With the NBA trade deadline looming, the Golden State Warriors are still caught in between. The dreaded middle land where the team isn’t good enough to make waves in the playoffs, but neither are they bad enough for a true rebuild.
Golden State is preaching patience… or at least they were a few weeks ago when General Manager, Mike Dunleavy said he wanted a few weeks to evaluate the roster. Two weeks into the new year, the team is still looking like they will need a bit more – perhaps a lot more – in order to stay competitive in today’s league. Whether that comes from internal improvement or a roster shakeup is yet to be decided.
Tonight, the Warriors should have both Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green back. There are even some whispers about the potential return of Gary Payton. Against a Toronto Raptors that has won a mere eight games all season, tonight will be a litmus test – not for the Warriors’ ceiling, but for their floor.
The Raptors have dropped five straight games, and 16 of their last 17 games. So let’s plumb the depths!
Steve Kerr says Andrew Wiggins will play against Raptors tomorrow. Steph Curry and Draymond Green participated in practice and are expected to play tomorrow. Gary Payton II was able to work today and is questionable for tomorrow. Brandin Podziemski remains out.
WHO: Golden State Warriors (19-19) at Toronto Raptors (8-31)
WHEN: Monday, January 13th, 2025; 4:30pm PST
WATCH: NBCSBA
Many Warriors’ fans have seen darker days than these, but this current iteration of the team is challenging to the faith. With Curry beginning to show some signs of aging, and a league that is not-so-ironically outpacing the Warriors by light years with new generations of talent and wrinkles to combat and improve on the motion-based principles that have been key to the Warriors success.
This is part of why Jonathan Kuminga’s injury was so untimely. The next version of this team will need contributions by new home grown talent. Though the roster isn’t all that different from the one that opened the season so well, the results have been so much worse for so long that those memories are fading in the rearview mirror.
Of course, the main driver if tonight is going to go better will be the return of Currey, Green and Wiggins; but the rest of the squad showed some flashes of life that are encouraging.
What if Kerr tightened the rotation wrong?
In their loss to the Pacers, the short-handed Warriors were led in scoring by none other than Pat Spencer, who came in off the bench with a career high 17 points (7 of 13 shooting, 3 rebounds and an assist) in about 20 minutes – also a career high.
Spencer’s big night comes on the heels of another development player, Gui Santos’s big performance. Santos, by the way, chipped in 11 points, 3 assists and 3 steals in 23 minutes off the bench. For what it’s worth, Santos led the team in plus-minus too. More importantly, they’re fun. So much of sports is about who wants it more, and both of these players showed up with a hunger.
Which begs the question of how much more analysis is needed before this team pivots. For a lot of reasons, it feels like a trade – much less a significant improvement via trade – is in the cards. The front office has been looking (and probably still is) looking for something better but until they pull the trigger on a move, these are the weapons at their disposal.
Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield are the two players that came in on the Klay Thompson trade, and they will continue to have roles, but given this team’s struggles, it wouldn’t be a bit surprising to see more of Santos and Spencer. It’s time for some hard decisions.
Sure, maybe it’s PR, but this is still a nice heartwarming gesture from Curry and the Warriors. Curry is one of the league’s biggest draws, and the NBA has even gone so far as to crackdown on absences of key players on the road in order to help assuage some of the impacts of folks buying tickets, travelling all the way in to a game, only to be met with the Warriors playing eight players.
We are all lucky to get to see Curry’s career as it unfolds, and even when the guy doesn’t play, fans are in for a treat. Check it out:
Warriors will win by leaning back into the bench – even if it means pulling some minutes on underperforming players.
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