There is no such thing as a perfect team, even for championship contenders. For some it’s rebounding, for others it’s shot creation, but for the Golden State Warriors, there has been one giant consistency over the years: Turnovers. Since the 2016 season, the Warriors have ranked top 10 in the league in turnovers per game every year except for 2020, ironically the season that their record was the worst. Every time you watch a game, it seems like the turnovers aren’t even glaring mistakes, but instead due to negligence or lack of care at the perfect time for the opposing team to swing their momentum.

This didn’t stop them from winning championships when they had personnel to do so. But now that the team doesn’t have the luxury of three all-world scorers who can erase a 20-point deficit like it’s nothing, the Warriors may have to put some more value on taking care of the ball. Last night against the Clippers, the team turned the ball over 21(!!!) times to LA’s 7. A majority of these came from Steph Curry (6) and Jordan Poole (7), the team’s current two lead guards. It was certainly a scrappy game, but so many of the turnovers that were made were so avoidable. Whenever you see the Warriors lose, there’s usually a key stat that jumps out, and that’s the turnover rate.

Is this going to be an immediate issue? Considering how the team needed a bailout performance from Steph against a good-but-not-great Clippers team last night, it very well could be. The Dubs don’t face the same level of competition they got in their first two openers for a large stretch of the season which should let them settle into the offense a little more, but narrow wins against both the SoCal squads could be attributed to costly turnovers at the wrong times. This isn’t the championship discipline that you’d expect from a franchise that made the Finals five straight times while retaining their winning core. The passing and playmaking that the team has displayed has shown that they are certainly willing to move the ball, but the turnover rates question how effective that’s ultimately going to be. If they can’t take care of the ball, those 30 assists they put up against the Lakers and the 27 last night aren’t going to mean a whole lot.

Despite the obvious bright spots of this Warriors team, their turnovers are going to define whether or not they are a championship contender once Klay Thompson gets back, because his return (no matter how close to full strength he will be) will be a net positive impact regardless. If they can clean things up, they have a case to be the best team in the West, but their ceiling only goes so high if the offense keeps giving the ball up. Vets like Steph and Draymond can’t be that careless with the ball when they’ve played in Kerr’s system for seven seasons now if they hope to ring up and take home the trophy again this season.

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