Evaluating the 2024-2025 Warriors Roster As It Currently Stands

With an extension for Lauri Markkanen done in Utah and reports that they’re not interested in putting together deals for either Zach Lavine or Brandon Ingram, it’s looking more and more likely that the current roster is what the Golden State Warriors will head into the season with.

There’s still time to get deals done - and a midseason trade deadline which could be a period where they’re more active - but the roster overhaul has given the team a new look, covering a variety of weaknesses which they dealt with last season. Of course, it’s hard to properly tell if they’ll be better than last season, and the lack of a clear second option (one issue they still have to address) doesn’t make for a particularly encouraging thought that they will be.

Regardless, we’ll cover the additions, losses, and some strengths and weaknesses to see where this team is at in its current state.

Roster Additions
The moves on the margins which Mike Dunleavy Jr. orchestrated in this offseason have a lot to like about them. The first player to mention is Buddy Hield, who was brought over from a sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers after heading there from the Indiana Pacers earlier last season. Hield, over the last 5 seasons, leads everybody not named Stephen Curry in the NBA in 3s made at a career 40% from beyond the arc: He’s a high-volume, high-efficiency shooter who can get looks off clean catches and in movement off screens, and at 31 years old with a history of playing almost every game each season wherever he goes outside of a year with the Kings early in his career where injuries held him out, he figures to try and replace some of the now-departed Klay Thompson’s production. While Hield lacks Thompson’s microwave-esque intangibles, he can still get hot and has a skill which Thompson didn’t have in his arsenal for most of his time in Golden State: Hield can shoot off the dribble and create his own shot in a pinch. The biggest question with him will be his defense, although Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in January of last season that there were notable improvements he made on the other end throughout his pre-Philly stint there. The Warriors shouldn’t expect him to guard the other team’s best player, but if he can be an average team defender, his offense will more than make up for whatever deficiency he has on the other end.

Another excellent move was the sign-and-trade of Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson. Slow-Mo, historically a “Warrior-killer” who seemed to elevate his game impressively against the Dubs every time he played them while with the Memphis Grizzlies, gets a bit of a bad rep because he’s… well, slow, particularly notable with his jump shot. Despite weird mechanics, he’s proven he can be efficient with some volume (41% on 1.5 attempts a game in 2022-2023) even if inconsistently so (23% on 0.6 attempts a game in 2023-2024). One thing that he’s always been good at, however, is defense and play connection: Anderson played an important role for the 2nd-seed Wolves last year as a glue guy in the purest sense. His length lets him disrupt passing lanes easier and cover the perimeter, and while slow-footed, he knows how to use his larger frame to his advantage when taking on individual matchups in the paint. He’s proven he’s a good passer as well, racking up around 4.5 assists a game over his last two seasons in Minnesota despite limited minutes. Slow-Mo’s ultimately a high IQ defender and playmaker who, in a pinch, can get some shots up and sweep the offensive glass, a different version of the production Golden State got from Dario Saric at the start of last season that should fit the system just a bit better.

Through a lot of last season, there were two issues that plagued the Warriors guards and ultimately lost them a few games late: Complementary spacing to make it harder to trap Steph Curry, and point-of-attack defense to shut the water off on whoever was getting hot against them that night. Enter De’Anthony Melton, another former Warriors opponent from their run-ins with the Grizzlies a few years back. Melton’s a pesky defender, and despite being just 6’2 he’s posted some of the more impressive perimeter defense grades since coming into the league by staying attached to his man, navigating screens very efficiently, and using his 6’8 wingspan to be constantly disruptive both on and off-ball. He’s quick enough to stay in front of shifty guards with the length and strength to bother guys who outsize him on switches in time for help to arrive. Melton’s also a consistently-good shooter who can punish teams that leave him open (around 37% from three on 5 attempts per game over the last three seasons) while also providing speed in the open court and the ability to get his own on a broken possession. He figures to bring a lot of what Gary Payton II does already, although with more durability and additional offensive versatility in exchange for Payton’s dunker spot acumen.

Roster Subtractions
Even with the addition of three very good role players, this offseason lost the Warriors a part of their dynasty: Klay Thompson will never look right in a Mavericks journey, but ultimately the NBA is a business and its business side reared its head in Thompson’s contract situation. At one point in time, there were legitimate arguments to be made that Klay was one of the best two-way players in the league, but after an ACL injury and an Achilles right after that, he just never came back quite the same defensively. With Thompson’s departure, they lose his familiarity with the system and defensive IQ in addition to his most important asset, which is his flamethrower shooting that makes him the deadliest player on the planet when he heats up… and he can heat up instantly, even if just a little less these days. A lot of pressure was put on Thompson to be the second option behind Steph this last season, which was an unfair role to place him in and ultimately it didn’t yield good results; there were well-founded gripes with his shot selection at times, and while he had plenty of games where he went vintage, his inconsistency for a featured role hurt the team just as much. Klay will always be stamped in the Bay as a franchise legend and should have the respect of Warriors fans for all he’s done, but this breakup was probably the best for both parties moving forward, with hopes of them one day reuniting before 11 hangs ‘em up.

The other major departure Golden State had this offseason was veteran back-up point guard Chris Paul. This one hurts a lot less, given that Paul was a long-time rival with both the Clippers and Rockets during the rise and peak of the dynasty. He was here for one season where his age showed, and despite bringing some good moments and stability to the second unit, his unavailability and defensive incapability were problems given how much salary space he was taking up. With him gone, the Warriors lack a stable leader in the second unit: Melton and Anderson can playmake a bit, but there’s not really a true point guard, which could lead to some chaos. Ultimately, Paul was never going to end his career here, but it certainly stings to lose Jordan Poole for essentially nothing while getting a very “eh” season out of the proclaimed Point God.

Strengths
The Warriors improved a lot based on their more notable areas of struggle from last season. The spacing was problematic whenever Thompson wasn’t hot, which let teams hound Steph Curry with a primary defender and usually a spy or trapper without punishment. With Melton and especially Hield, it brings two guys who are consistent enough to make teams pay for their over-aggressive coverages on Curry - and even heat up if they get enough good looks, which they undoubtably will. If Anderson can establish his jumper while Andrew Wiggins returns to form, the spacing returns even stronger than it was in the 2022 title year. Either way, this team added three-point shooting that makes their spacing already-better across multiple line-ups, and if they can get quality minutes out of draft pick Quinten Post, then they can play with a true pick-and-pop center without sacrificing much defensively given Post, a true 7-footer, shot 43% from three on almost 3 looks per game in his senior year at Boston College while joining the All-ACC defensive team. Should we expect a record-breaking shooting team? Probably not, but it’s notable that they inarguably have better spacing up and down the roster than they did before, even with Klay Thompson gone.

Defensively, there’s zero doubt this team improved. Draymond Green’s return to the rotation post-suspension and Trayce Jackson-Davis moving to the starting center spot late last year helped them to post a top-5 defense down the stretch; They now add valuable point of attack defense with Melton, and connective high-IQ team defense with Anderson, two areas which they were having some big issues with through last year. On top of improvements from Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, plus a hopeful rebound from Wiggins, this team should post some impressive numbers on that end and, barring injuries, field a suffocating defense near the top of the league as they have in the past.

There’s a few areas in which marginal improvements have been made, or the team has stayed consistent in. Melton provides some extra rim pressure by being a capable driver when attacking close-outs and when he’s got a lane, as can Anderson with some sneaky skills in the paint. Kuminga’s expected to improve and he already puts a massive amount of pressure on the paint, as did Jackson-Davis as a lob threat once he got some more tangible run. Rebounding has never been a problem with this team, who once again ranked as one of the top teams in both offensive and defensive rebounding throughout the season despite not fielding a traditional 7-footer. Coach Kerr’s system maximizes ball and player movement, something role players are more than used to, and with improving reads from Brandin Podziemski as well as Slow-Mo’s passing acumen, that should become cleaner.

Weaknesses
Despite being able to shore up some of their biggest needs roster construction-wise, there is a glaring issue which the Warriors will need to fill: There still is no solidified second star. After striking out on trades for Markkanen and Paul George ended up empty-handed, and with no apparent interest in trading for Ingram or Lavine, Golden State doesn’t have someone who can help Steph Curry carry the scoring load when he’s struggling against a defensive scheme centered around stopping him, or if he’s just having an off night. Last season, the team took the committee approach to this: Some nights it was Klay, on rare occasion it was Wiggins, but a lot of the time it ended up being Jonathan Kuminga. JoKu put together a few good stretches of play in the middle of the season after getting publicly honest about his playing time: When Steve Kerr called his number to walk the walk, he did so with little hesitation.

Kuminga is also, even though he took a leap last year, about to turn 22 and in year 4 of his career, so the expectation should be that while he’s coming into his own soon, it would be a stretch for him to be a guy that can go out there and get 30 a night while being a focal point in the offense. His ability to get downhill and attack the paint is unquestionable: He’s a force, probably the most athletic guy on the floor almost every night. His decision-making still leaves a lot to be desired, his jumper is coming along but it still needs some work so he can create with it, and while he can get to the free throw line seemingly at will, he struggles to make his free throws. With Kuminga’s work ethic and obvious innate talents, it’s not unreasonable to say that he could take another leap and be the second guy (especially when he’s looking for a max-level extension next offseason) in which case this glaring issue goes away… But it’s not something that should be an expectation. Defensively, he can still get lost off-ball and sometimes struggles to contain shiftier guards, two areas which he’ll need to also grow into in order to be his most effective.

The other weakness that the Warriors have constantly been critiqued for is lack of size. Post is a 7-footer but he likely won’t play a lot unless he makes some explosive impact in limited minutes since he’s a rookie. As aforementioned, the Warriors are pretty good collectively as a rebounding team, so any center they bring in is likely to field more shot-blocking (which TJD has already provided) and/or just another body to throw at big guys like Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Anthony Davis. There may be some cheaper options on the free agent market to address the latter, and other than a bargain option it’s not all that worth investing into when traditional centers are starting to have less and less of an impact. It’d be nice to shore up the big rotation with some bigger bodies, but not an absolute necessity despite it being a weakness if there’s a better move that can be made in place of it.

Outside of that, the other weaknesses are process-related: Turnovers and getting a little too trigger-happy when looking for a dagger shot late in games, both of which doomed Golden State in close contests very consistently last season. These are things which Curry himself is as guilty of as anyone, and while he can get away with them because he' almost always makes up for it right after a lapse or is the only reason they game’s close in the first place, the rest of the team needs to be a little more mindful about taking care of the ball and taking the right shots. Turnovers will always be inflated as a product of a heavy-motion system, but there does need to be more accountability going forward in order to course-correct from selling that many winnable games.

Conclusions
The Warriors as constructed will have a tough time in the West this season. The conference has more parity at the top than it ever has, and there very well could be 12-13 teams in contention for playoff and play-in spots: The margin for error is very, very limited. What this season will depend on is if Golden State can find a route to getting a clear second option. They have a potential one in-house if Kuminga can make some serious improvements in the game feel department as well as increase his versatility as a scorer while staying locked in both on and off-ball defensively, but once again putting the weight of that on a player who very well may not make that leap just yet is rolling the dice in a way that could be punishing.

This season will also depend a lot on if Steve Kerr can get out of his own way. There is some serious depth on this team, but establishing clear rotations without overcomplicating and constantly tinkering with things - plus making sure the players know where they stand within the team and what their roles are - are incredibly important in maximizing what they can do with the roster. And despite the fact that Kerr is obviously a championship coach, he can make it harder on himself with his overcorrections or unwillingness to change. Keep it simple by finding the middle ground with adjustments and that will open up plenty of potential across the team.

As things stand, it’s hard to paint this team as a contender. They’re a major move or development away from being in that echelon of teams in the NBA. There are routes to get there, but for now, the Warriors are probably just be a scrappy upset candidate if they can crack the playoffs in such a talented Western Conference. But of course, it’s hard to ever count out a team with Steph Curry on the roster. After his electric Olympics performance yesterday, it’s glaringly obvious there’s plenty left in the tank. He can’t do it alone, but don’t be surprised if this team outperforms the expectations for them as things currently stand… Even if it takes a bit of a struggle to get there.

(Photo credit: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)