Any remaining hope that the Warriors would make noise in a loaded Western Conference this season was dashed when Steph Curry broke his left hand the night before last Halloween.
The Warriors were in the midst of a 1-3 start, already missing Klay Thompson while rehabilitating a torn ACL. Thompson would not play the rest of the season, and Curry only played once more the rest of the way, as Golden State had a record 15-50 worse in the NBA when the season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Being down on two All-Stars is a difficult task for any team, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted Friday that he had little hope before Curry’s injury. When 95.7 The Game’s Damon Bruce asked Kerr what the Golden State season would look like with healthy Curry all year, Kerr said the Warriors would still have faced an uphill climb.
“Well, to be honest, I think it would still have been a fight, Damon,” Kerr said in “Damon, Ratto and Kolsky.” “I think there were too many factors going against us. Obviously, we would have won many more games. Steph is so talented that he certainly would have won many games on his own.”
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Curry, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Jacob Evans were the only Warriors to be dressed in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals and in the first game of the 2019-20 regular season. The Warriors had seven new players in their opening night lineup, apart from Damion Lee, who played 32 games with Golden State during the previous regular season but none in the playoffs.
The two-time MVP tested even more roster rotation in March. Curry played his fifth and finally last game of the season on March 5 against the Toronto Raptors. He looked like his old self, but the rest of the Warriors lineup was unrecognizable from the one that started the season, let alone the one he lost to the Raptors in the 2019 finals.
Outside were Evans, D’Angelo Russell, Omari Spellman, Glenn Robinson and Alec Burks (who did not play on opening night). It included Andrew Wiggins, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Mychal Mulder and Dragan Bender. Robinson and Burks were traded to the Philadelphia 76ers’ contenders for a capital project, but Russell, Evans and Spellman sought out Wiggins, whom the Warriors hope will play a vital role in the wing in the future.
Perhaps the Warriors, who are fighting for position in the playoffs, don’t make all those moves if Curry is healthy. Kerr previously stated that a Russell trade could have been inevitable due to guard adjustment (or lack of it) alongside Curry and Thompson, making it possible, if not likely, that the Golden State will still switch to Russell while he’s a postseason chase.
With Curry, Kerr said the Warriors would still have faced a steep learning curve due to all the roster rotation. Considering Curry had played an extra season of games (93) during Golden State’s five races, arguably it was more beneficial for the guard to lose all the time he did this season.
“It was, in a weird way, I almost needed a break,” Kerr continued. “And Klay almost needed the break they’re getting. Now, maybe this is too long a break (after the season was suspended due to the pandemic), but I feel like a quick turnaround (this summer) is coming out of that five-year career with that big roster change, we really would have had to look for an identity. And without the defensive talent of the wing we needed to really compete at a high level, I think it would have been a tough year anyway, to be perfectly forceful. “
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Now, the Warriors are armed with (at least) a selection of the top five heading to the October NBA draft. Whether it’s used to recruit a prospect or traded for a veteran, Curry will once again have to get used to playing alongside some new faces.
With health on his side (and Thompson’s) and resting in the rearview mirror every time the next season begins, the Warriors hope to be much closer to building an identity than they proved to be this season.
