If your star player is 38 years old and weeks removed from a serious knee problem, your No. 2 option has been out for three months with an ACL tear and will be 37 when he next plays in an NBA game and your No. 3 option has been healthy for all of 32 games this season while still beset by a mysterious illness that seems to strike at random, you might well think that your NBA team is doomed. And yet, around the NBA, folks are bullish on the future for the Golden State Warriors.
Stephen Curry is old, and no one knows what to expect from Jimmy Butler or Kristaps Porzingis, but things are not all bad for the Warriors.
“It’s not an easy situation, they’re trying to have Steph go gracefully into retirement and have them stay competitive while he is doing that,” one NBA executive said. “And it can get ugly, it did at times this year when Steph was hurt. But you consider what they could have on the roster next year and, that is an imposing group. Not a title team or anything but, a pretty good one.”
Warriors Stephen Curry Averaged 26.6 Points, Had Knee Injury
Indeed, the Warriors are likely to have Curry back for next season, coming off a year in which he averaged 26.6 points and 4.7 assists, making 39.3% of his 3-pointers. He only played 43 games, though, missing most of the second half of the season with a knee injury,
But the Warriors could re-sign Porzingis on a reasonable contract for next season, and he could be a very good pairing with Curry if he can stay reasonably healthy. Butler, too, could be back near the start of the season after tearing his ACL in January. With the Warriors’ role players, and with the very important caveat that everyone needs to stay healthy, that’s a good start.
GettyKristaps Porzingis #7 of the Golden State Warriors
Warriors Could Make Another Offseason Move
Depending on the outcome of the Warriors’ play-in bid this year, the team could be even better set up if it lands a lottery pick in the June draft. If the Warriors want to upgrade the roster with a trade, it’s possible they could trade that pick and some combination of future picks (2028, 2032) to put together a credible package for a star.
They’d have to deal away Butler to get into the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, but they likely won’t go that route. Much more likely is a lower-level trade in which the Warriors bulk up the roster without breaking up the core (including Draymond Green).
‘Do What They Can for Stephen Curry’
The rest of the West is difficult. But the Warriors could be in the playoff–no play-in–mix at this time next season.
“They operate under the idea that they’re going to do what they can for Steph, and that means they might take some risks on guys other teams won’t touch,” an Eastern Conference GM said. “It’s obviously the right thing to do for the player, but it has also put them in a spot where, it’s a lot of ‘if-this’ and ‘if-that’ but with Curry and Jimmy Butler and Kristaps and maybe they add a draft pick and a veteran … you know, you can see it.
“As long as they’re trying to do right by Steph, they can’t lose. And he knows it, too. To have a guy like Steph in that situation, it’s an enviable position.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Warriors in ‘Enviable’ Stephen Curry Position Before Play-In appeared first on Heavy Sports.