Golden State Warriors: End of an Era?

It is no secret that the Golden State Warriors have changed basketball to a whole new level, and they have influenced the game to bigger heights. But it seems that the NBA giants are falling down fast, and no one can deny that this is inevitable for all the best teams in the league, but is this truly the end of greatness in basketball?

How the Dubs’ Era Reinvented Basketball

For almost eight years, the Warriors have been the staple of basketball innovation, creating standards for the NBA and redefining the sport as we know it. From the extensive use of the three-pointer, all the way to the moving screens, small-ball lineups, and the fast-paced ball movement, it does seem that the Warriors have laid out the blueprint for a successful basketball dynasty, and they have certainly achieved massive feats over the years. This just proves how successful they have been over the years as a team to look out for.

The Warriors' dynasty began in 2015 image

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were initially the core for the team. But when head coach Steve Kerr was inserted to innovate the Warriors, it does seem that things took a wild turn as the team became a much more promising team to look out for, becoming arguably the best three-point shooting team in the history of the league. On top of that, Golden State managed to set the best record in the NBA at 73-9 in the 2015-16 season.

To sum it up, the Warriors won a total of four titles in eight seasons of being a contender, including five straight trips to the NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019. Stephen Curry also won the first unanimous MVP in the history of the league. They also assembled a wide array of stars in Curry, Thompson, and Green in the first years, before adding Kevin Durant and then DeMarcus Cousins in the later parts of the dynasty.

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Why the Warriors are Falling Hard

This season has been a rollercoaster ride for the Golden State Warriors, and it has been quite a tough run for them so far. The games are won by single digits most of the time, and the Warriors are having a tough time winning them as well. As of the time of writing, the Warriors are battling for a chance to make it into the Play-In Tournament with a chance to make it to the Playoffs if they are lucky enough. But how did a team that reached the Western Conference Semi Finals last season fell to being a Play-In Team?

Let us break down the biggest factors that have played a huge role in the Warriors’ poor outing in the 2023-24 season.

Klay Thompson’s Decline

Klay Thompson struggled hard in the 2023-24 season image

Throughout his career, Klay Thompson has been a blazing shooter in his own right and has set the bar for shooting from deep along with his co-Splash Brother in Curry. However, this season has just not been his right from the start as the star guard struggled to play at a high level and hasn’t been really the same star that he was in the past few years, with most of his games ending up in a brick shooting night with lots of misses and poor decision-making in most times.

For comparison, the 2022-23 season version of Thompson averaged 21.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 43.6% from the field and 41.2% from three - a deadeye shooter to fear for any team.

In contrast, this season has seen Klay average just 17.2 points, on 42.2% shooting and 38.3% from deep – and he has a lot of games that have ended up scoring single-digits and some games where he has forced his way to score above 20 points. Not exactly the deadeye Thompson that has terrorized a lot of teams in the NBA over the years.

Stephen Curry Entering the Twilight of his Career

While the problem may be with Thompson, it also cannot be denied that Stephen Curry has seen some rough stretches in his games this season as well. The greatest shooter of all-time has been in a slump in some of their games, especially against contenders in the NBA, which has made him quite a liability. Still, Curry has been one of the big stars in the league over the years, and yet his struggles has really affected the Warriors’ hopes of a title this season.

Curry is averaging just 27 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45% from the field, and 40.5% from three, and the Warriors are not winning a whole chunk of their games than they used to do so under his lead.

Stephen Curry is entering the final stages of his career image

These may look like decent numbers, but Curry’s stats have been clipped at a higher level considering the way he played at an efficient in the previous campaign. That has proven to be a huge factor for the team’s tough finishes in their games, and it has led them to struggle to move up in the Western Conference over the months.

Indecisiveness Between Wiggins and Kuminga

Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga image

Both Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga have been instrumental for the Warriors this season. Most of their games have shared the same play style, which has forced Kerr’s hand to actually shuffle their rotation from time to time. However, this indecisiveness has led the Warriors to struggle in coming up with a more solid chemistry and a dedicated third-scoring option after Curry and Thompson. Still, it is a tough problem that the team needs to address with the season going to the closing stretch in just a few weeks. If they are going to make it to the playoffs, they will need both of them to click well to earn the big wins that they need most, especially with Houston knocking from the 11th seed.

Let’s not forget that there’s also the case with Brandin Podziemski, who is starting to show glimpses of high potential despite being a rookie. Still, one should always compare Wiggins’ and Kuminga’s value to the team, with the latter being more productive and more reliable for the team as of late, but the team will have to figure out to make sure both get the valuable minutes they need to make the best impact for the squad as much as possible.

Chris Paul’s Irrelevance

While he did deal with injuries in the early part of the season, it did seem that the Golden State Warriors didn’t get their money’s worth in Chris Paul after they traded Jordan Poole for him. While Paul is a considerable star guard who has high basketball IQ, it does seem that he doesn’t fit with the Warriors’ dynamic at all, not being able to play significant minutes with impressive playmaking. It seems as if Paul is an irrelevant piece to the squad that should have been traded back in the trade deadline.

Paul has been averaging a mere 9.2 points, 7.0 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Warriors, and it has been a tough stretch for the veteran star guard this season.

Chris Paul has been in a decline this season image

He hasn’t been able to generate wins for the team and has the lowest win share percentage for the squad, which just proves that he is just another player to pay for the team and is not being utilized well by Kerr to help Curry and Thompson play off-ball even more to enhance the Warriors’ offensive capabilities.

Will the Warriors Go for One Last Run?

It is hard to say how far the Warriors will go this season. For instance, it would be hard to predict if they can actually make a deeper run this year alone considering the heavy competition that they will have to go up against just in the Play-In Tournament, where they will have to win twice to make it to the Playoffs. On top of that, we are still unsure if the team would call it quits and move on by the offseason as well.

All of that will be a topic for another day, but be sure to stay updated on the latest happenings in the NBA and the rest of the sports world! Lucky for you, GambleSpot offers the best blogs, predictions, game analyses, and many other sports-related content that you would not want to miss!