2022-2023 Warriors Season Recap And Future Forecast

The bid for a repeat came up just a little short. For the first time in the Steve Kerr era, the Warriors lost in the playoffs to a Western Conference opponent. This time, it was the Los Angeles Lakers, who made an impressive turnaround from the 13th seed before the trade deadline, all the way to the play-in games and battling their way past the Memphis Grizzlies for their second round series against Golden State.

The series could’ve gone better, in many regards.

A tactically-brilliant chess match between Kerr and Lakers coach Darvin Ham was overshadowed by narratives around how players rank all-time, what this series would mean on a grander scale, and a hyperfocus on two superstars who didn’t really define the games played in any way. LeBron James and Stephen Curry both put up 30-point performances in Game 6, but there were signs the Warriors were the better team, the biggest takeaway was that one team showed up while the other team didn’t.

And such was the story of the season. Despite a great run by Steph that could’ve resulted in an MVP award had the Warriors finished better in the regular season standings, there were a myriad of struggles the team underwent this season.

The most notable of these was their many late-game collapses, where they would lose sense of their regular offensive process and go hunting for the dagger by taking shots that would normally be reserved for heat checks. They tricked games to teams in the NBA Draft lottery while putting up complete performances against a lot of the NBA’s top tier teams.

The loss against the Lakers were the summation of a team that just beat themselves again and again. While Steph’s brilliance carried them a great deal, the season seemed to be steeped more in personal egos than a team mentality. It started with a physical dispute between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole which has become infamous, putting an energy into the locker room that was palpably negative to start the season. It continued with reports that young players like Jonathan Kuminga and Poole were unhappy with their rotation minutes into the playoffs, and was galvanized by injuries to Steph, Draymond Green, and a family issue which took Andrew Wiggins out of the lineup for months. There have been talks about players who believe they deserve max contracts when their play doesn’t always reflect that at key moments and a lack of an extension for general manager Bob Myers, adding even more fuel to the pending offseason fire.

In a lot of ways, the 2022-2023 season was the perfect storm, something that encapsulated the struggles the Warriors had off the court since they reached the mountaintop for the first time with this group of players. Drama, contract discussions, and injuries have all been well-recorded parts of the Warriors’ modern dynasty, possibly the last dynasty we’ll ever see but one we won’t see the end of until Stephen Curry hangs up his shoes for good.

Looking forward, the Warriors have a lot of decisions to make this offseason. Poole’s lack of productivity this past postseason and rather large contract have put him in prime position, whether or fair or not, to be the centerpiece of an offseason trade. Kuminga could be in that conversation as well, given how he was the big name in the proposed O.G. Anunoby trade with the Toronto Raptors that was an ongoing discussion right up to this year’s deadline. Donte DiVincenzo was relatively ineffective save for Game 6 of the Lakers series, and has a player option for next season… as does Draymond, who is still seeking a max contract but has said himself he wants to be a Warrior for life.

There is one decision that will affect the others a great deal, however: Bob Myers. Myers is widely considered the architect of the dynasty, and absolutely deserves the credit he gets, but a report from ESPN’s Marc Stein has indicated he’s the “most likely prominent Warrior” to leave the team. He’s constantly put championship teams around his big 3, acquired Kevin Durant en-route to two championships and an injury-riddled Finals appearance in three seasons, and put together a masterclass in roster construction just last season to maximize the Warriors in tandem with Curry’s inhuman skillset so they could win again.

If Myers is truly gone, then that could greatly change the direction of the team moving forward. It’s become obvious that the youth movement and the win-now timeline are at different paces, and while you can’t win a championship every year, Steph Curry gives them a damn good chance to. Joe Lacob said earlier this season that with the CBA’s constraints, trying to develop young players at the same time as play high-level winning basketball is imperative, and that’s true, but that also requires buy-in from the young players who could be competing for much bigger contracts in much bigger roles with much lower expectations.

Moses Moody showed he was productive in his role and was drafted to do what he’s been doing; Jonathan Kuminga, while he’s an excellent talent and will be one of the best players in the NBA some day, needs a lot more room to grow. Jordan Poole may be another case of much the same. Improving at the margins will help, using roster spots opened up by the departures of JaMychal Green, Anthony Lamb, and possibly DiVincenzo, as well as the retirement of Andre Iguodala, should give the team some more flexibility to work with. Moving Poole and Kuminga would effectively keep 9 players from last year’s roster and bring in financial flexibility to extend Klay Thompson and Draymond, while also giving the opportunity for Golden State to shore up their bench depth.

The most likely scenario if Myers stays is that a trade doesn’t happen and DiVincenzo picks up his player option, and the team has 3 open roster spots to work with while essentially running it back. The hope is for some frontcourt shooting, defense, and rebounding to join the lineup, but those players are hard to come by on the minimum contracts which the Warriors will need to find them on. It will require further commitment and greater leaps from some of the younger guys, but if Kuminga stays then he’s likely to see a much more expanded role given how successful he was late last season.

Now if Myers is gone, shaking things up is probably something more likely to happen given the financial constraints the team is currently under. Myers’s potential successor is most likely to be an in-house hire, meaning the organization will have a bigger stake in how the roster shakes out. That’s when we could be looking at a roster with several new faces in order to cut costs and go the more traditional route of championship contender construction.

There are a number of rotation-level players who will be unrestricted free agents this year. If the Warriors do decide to clear up some cap space to sign them, then their primary targets should be Jakob Poeltl or Brook Lopez. Both address team needs, although Lopez is probably the better option of the two. Players like Bismack Biyombo and Wesley Matthews are likelier targets given they’ll come at a better contract price and still fill team needs, although in less versatile ways.

This offseason has a lot of potential in terms of a different-looking team next season. It will be a test to see just how serious they are as contenders, and whether the front office is fine just competing at a mid-tier level until their young guys are handed the reigns. The future of the Warriors, however, should be a lot less up for debate: This team still has the legs to go the mile and win another. As long as Stephen Curry still wears the jersey, the dynasty is far from finished.

(Photo credit: Noah Graham / Getty Images)