Stephen Curry is still playing like Stephen Curry, but the Warriors have left him with an almost impossible job.
Golden State is rolling back a roster that won 37 games last season and finished tenth in the Western Conference, and the offseason has brought no real help. The Warriors lost Quinten Post and haven’t added anyone. On top of that, two of their five highest-paid players are set to open the season injured, while the other three are over 30 and carry their own injury concerns.
That leaves Curry carrying far too much. He is the only healthy 20-point-per-game scorer with Jimmy Butler injured and Kristaps Porzingis needing his playing time monitored closely. Curry and Draymond Green are the only two players on the roster who can handle the ball as primary creators, and Golden State badly needs Curry’s spacing just to keep the offense functioning.
For a 38-year-old, that’s a brutal ask over 82 games. The Warriors went 13-26 without Curry last season, and there’s no reason to think that number gets prettier this year. Butler is coming off a torn ACL, Green is not suddenly becoming a high-volume scorer, and the roster around them simply doesn’t look good enough to chase a championship.
Curry, of course, is still producing at an elite level. Last season he averaged 26.6 points, 4.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 30.9 minutes per game.
The 12-time All-Star shot 46.8 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from 3-point range. He remains one of the league’s toughest matchups, but there’s only so much one player can cover for.
Even if Curry gets to 70 games, the Warriors still don’t look built to crack the top six in the West. He has only hit that mark twice in the last nine years, though it’s not out of the question. Butler won’t be back until Christmas, Porzingis has reached 60-plus games only once in nine years, and Al Horford is nearing the end of a legendary career.
The one younger piece with room to rise is Brandin Podziemski. At 23, he keeps improving, but the Warriors are still asking a lot if they expect him to be anything more than a quality role player.
The rest of the roster is a tough bet because of age, injuries, or both. Golden State’s 37-win season already showed the ceiling, and the numbers without Curry were ugly.
Even with him on the floor, the Warriors won 55.8 percent of their games last year, a pace that would have put them seventh in the West and three games behind the Timberwolves, who finished sixth. That’s a play-in team with Curry and a lottery team without him.
There is a path to some cap space in the 2027 offseason, but it comes with a catch: the Warriors would likely need to lose Butler and Green or get them to return on major discounts. That is much easier to say than to pull off.
The message for fans is pretty clear. The dynasty is over, and this roster is not built to contend. Curry still wants a fifth championship and wants to stay a one-franchise player, but those goals do not line up with the reality of this season.
Golden State could reshape things next summer and change the picture, but right now the burden on Curry is too heavy. At 38, he can still be brilliant, but he cannot drag this team into the race with the Knicks, Spurs, Thunder, or the other top teams in the league.
The Warriors did try to land LeBron James, and after that fell through, choosing to run it back has left Curry in a position that borders on unfair. The talent just isn’t there, and the franchise is clearly looking ahead to life after his retirement.
If Golden State keeps holding back, this is the shape of the rest of Curry’s career. That’s not what fans want to hear, but it’s the reality. The only hope is that the Warriors eventually make a real push and give him one last shot at a fifth ring.
In Other News...
Warriors Already Have Early Proof They Nailed A Key Draft Call
Golden State had a chance to get cute on draft night, but instead the front office stayed put and used the 11th pick on Yaxel Lendeborg after declining Oklahoma Citys offer to move up. The deal would have brought back future second-round picks, but the Warriors passed, betting on the player they wanted rather than the extra assets, and that choice already looks like a smart one for a team trying to keep finding value wherever it can.
Lendeborg backed up the decision quickly in summer league, where he was named MVP and helped lead the Warriors to the championship. Oklahoma Citys Aday Mara, taken one spot later, flashed a few encouraging signs, but the early returns have tilted clearly toward Golden State, which at least for now seems to have found a clean win in a draft process that could matter well beyond July. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Get Encouraging Moses Moody Update After Trade Buzz
Moses Moodys recovery has taken a promising step forward, a welcome update for a Warriors team that has spent plenty of time this summer weighing roster possibilities and rotation stability. Four months after surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon, Moody is making good progress in his rehab, and the organization is expected to stay patient rather than push him back before he is ready.
The next checkpoint matters, though, because it will help frame just how soon Golden State can realistically count on him again. If the rehab keeps trending in the right direction, Moody should remain part of the conversation for the Warriors when he returns, which gives the team at least one encouraging internal storyline to monitor as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Face One Trade Dilemma In Pursuit Of Bench Scoring
The Warriors search for more bench scoring has only become more urgent as the roster has settled into its new shape, and one name floating in that conversation is tied to Milwaukees post-Giannis reshuffling. After Giannis Antetokounmpo was dealt to the Heat, the Bucks brought in several pieces, and among the players drawing outside attention is a young wing who turned in a strong season and has the kind of offensive profile that could help Golden States second unit.
Even so, the path to a deal does not look simple. League chatter has centered on the idea of using draft capital to make it happen, but the Warriors have been cautious about moving future picks, especially for a player whose contract situation adds another layer of complexity. Between the price in assets and the extension questions that come with it, this is the sort of trade idea that sounds helpful for a bench that needs scoring, yet still feels unlikely to become real unless the market shifts. [Read more 🡒]