NBA regular season is full of excitement, and as the season progresses, the league's landscape is taking shape, with each of the 30 teams facing their own challenges! Take the West for example, where the young Thunder dominate and lead by a wide margin, while teams like the Rockets, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Mavericks, Lakers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Spurs, Warriors, and Kings compete fiercely, each with their own problems! The Golden State Warriors have only managed an 18-18 record, ranking 10th in the West, in a precarious position! Even though Curry is still the "Curry Day" who can shoot until he smokes, he simply can't carry this troubled Warriors team!
In the Curry era, the Warriors have reached the NBA Finals six times and won four championships, making them one of the most successful dynasty teams in the league over the past decade. At the same time, the Warriors' owner has made a fortune, with the team's market value skyrocketing from 300milliontothe8 billion level! The Warriors have achieved both fame and wealth, and the owner is even more confident, setting a development strategy of "winning now and planning for the future." But what happened? After winning the championship in the 21-22 season, the Warriors were plagued with problems, both internal and external, and their dominance plummeted - they were eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals in the 22-23 season, and missed the playoffs in the 23-24 season!
During this offseason, the Warriors underwent a major reshuffle of their roster, letting go of Klay Thompson, not pursuing Chris Paul, unable to afford Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, and only signing role players like Buddy Hield and Moe Harkless as stopgap measures! At the same time, the Warriors offered Curry a one-year, 62.6millioncontractextension,bringinghistotalsalaryoverthenextthreeyearsto178 million! Considering that Curry is already 36 years old, this is the ultimate respect and dignity the Warriors are giving him, as well as their last chance to seize the tail of his prime and make a run at the championship! The road ahead is long and arduous, and Curry has no choice but to carry the burden forward, with no way out!
In the new season, the Warriors set sail again, and they had a brief honeymoon period, relying on their deep rotation to briefly take the top spot in the West. But as the season progressed, other teams figured out the Warriors' tactics, coupled with injuries, and the Warriors fell behind in the fierce competition in the Wild West! So far, the Warriors have only managed an 18-18 record, ranking 11th in the West, two games behind the sixth-seeded Lakers (20-16) and only half a game ahead of the 11th-seeded Kings (18-19). In other words, the Warriors are facing fierce competition from both ahead and behind, and it's hard to say whether they can even stay in the play-in tournament zone!
The Warriors are struggling, and it's not hard to see from the trade acquisition of Dennis Schroder that they know Curry's burden is too heavy, how many nails can you drive with all that steel? So far, Curry has been playing through minor injuries, appearing in 29 games for the Warriors, averaging 31.2 minutes per game, scoring 22.8 points + 4.9 rebounds + 6.1 assists + 4.4 three-pointers (league-leading), with shooting percentages of 45.5%, 42.3%, and 92.9% (also league-leading). Despite being strictly managed in terms of playing time, Curry remains the league's highest-scoring shooter, and his "Curry Gravity" is as strong as ever. However, the problem is that at 36 years old, Curry is really past the age where he can go all out every game, and his crazy output is only because his teammates are too unreliable! For example, in the past two games, Curry scored 57 points and hit 12 three-pointers, but recorded zero assists in both games, a first in his career!
Curry's current situation is very difficult, and a set of statistics tells the whole story! According to statistics, when Curry hits 8+ three-pointers in a game this season, the Warriors' record is only 1 win and 3 losses; in contrast, between 15-22, when Curry hit 8+ three-pointers in a game, the Warriors' record was 54 wins and 8 losses. In other words, when the Warriors are in desperate straits, Curry has no choice but to go all out, but even if he shoots until he smokes, he can't win games on his own like he used to, and this is a vicious cycle! When talking about the team's current situation, Curry pointed out incisively and vividly: the plan to compete for the championship while cultivating the next generation of team faces has failed, we need to stop talking and unite to change the status quo!
Curry is right, human desires are endless, wanting both is just being a bully! From drafting James Wiseman to trading away Jordan Poole, from letting go of Klay Thompson to trading for Dennis Schroder, the Warriors' series of moves are undoubtedly self-imposed constraints! I don't know how the Warriors will save themselves through trades next, but one thing is for sure, this is the path they chose for themselves, and they must see it through no matter how bitter or tiring it gets, it's just a shame for Curry, as winning another championship is harder than reaching the sky! Fan friends, what do you think about this? Come leave me a comment and discuss it!