Final 2024-25
-
Record: 48-34 (seventh in the West, lost to the Timberwolves in the second round of the playoffs)
Off-season moves
-
Additions: Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, Seth Curry, Will Richard, Alex Toohey
-
Subtractions: Kevon Looney, Braxton Key, Kevin Knox
(Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
The big question: Was what we saw after the Jimmy Butler trade sustainable for a full season?
Butler’s home run completely transformed the Warriors to a level that few midseason acquisitions achieve. He gave Steve Kerr’s club another avenue of attack, bringing a high-efficiency, low-turnover isolation game and a steady diet of free throws to the party to serve as a perfect complement to Golden State’s tried-and-true Stephen Curry-centric motion offense. He diversified and strengthened the team’s defense, pairing with Draymond Green to give the Dubs two high-IQ, multipositional possession destroyers capable of putting out fires throughout the midfield.
Advertisement
The impact was immediate, obvious and overwhelming: A .500 team with a negative point differential at the trade deadline, Golden State posted the NBA’s fourth-best record, third-best net rating and No. 1 defense next. In the 43 regular-season and postseason games following Butler’s arrival, the Warriors went 28-15, a 53-win pace. In the 35 games in which Butler, Curry and Green played, they went 27-8, a 63-gain rhythm.
(Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7)
They survived a young, hungry, physical and very good Rockets team in Round 1, winning a Game 7 on the road despite Butler playing with a pelvic contusion and Curry dealing with a thumb injury, and took Game 1 of the conference semifinals on the road in Minnesota. It would be a pyrrhic victory; As soon as Steph retired with a hamstring injury, Golden State’s fate was sealed.
However, even in defeat, his future path was clearly illuminated. The Curry-Green-Butler trio worked out like a smash hit, and with all three’s contracts lined up for two more seasons (provided Green exercises his $27.7 million player option for 2026-27), the Warriors would try to maximize their potential to compete for a title right now.
Advertisement
“My headline is that this team going into the season has a great opportunity,” Dunleavy Jr. said on media day.
So: Enter Al Horford, approaching 40, but still a highly additive, two-way player with championship experience who, as Kerr said, “fits into any lineup, makes any lineup better.”
(Big Al has already passed the first test any newcomer to the Bay faces: understanding that “the whole mentality is trying to make it easier for (Steph).” Good start!)
Enter Seth Curry, who shot 45.6% from 3-point range last season; who ranked in the 86th percentile in points per possession finished as a shooter and in the 96 percentile as ball handler in pick-and-roll, according to Synergy; and that seems like a pretty good bet to smoothly slide into a system his brother has been running for, oh, 50 years.
Advertisement
Returning is De’Anthony Melton, a two-way chaos agent who was a rotation piece during Golden State’s hot start last season before suffering a sprained left ACL and ultimately being traded to Brooklyn. Gary Payton II returns, a perpetually quirky player who somehow manages to fit perfectly into Golden State, guarding, diving, making extra passes and defending everyone with tenacity and alacrity.
(Get more Warriors news: Golden State team feed)
This, then, is the operating principle: get as many smart players as possible (guys who know how to cut, move, defend and pass, who know how to exploit and maximize the three superstars) and see how it all plays out. If, after a frozen summer of painful feelings, the finally renewed Jonathan Kuminga is willing to play a circumscribed role that fits that framework, then that is great news. And if he’s not… well, January 15 will be here before you know it, and a two-year, $46.8 million deal could bring back pieces that better fit the Warriors’ modus operandi.
If everyone is pulling in the same direction, and if the long-standing core pieces that Kerr, Dunleavy Jr. and the rest of Golden State’s think tank have latched onto can stay up and running, then we’ll have a chance to find out if what we saw after the trade deadline was just a small-sample-size magic trick, or if it’s durable enough to hold its own over a longer haul.
Advertisement
If it’s the former, then maybe we’ve already seen Steph’s last best chance at winning. However, if it’s the latter, then we could be looking at a real title contender.
The best of cases
Everything I just said is right! None of Steph, Draymond, Jimmy or Al miss extended periods, resulting in the Warriors finishing in the top 10 on both ends of the floor. GPII and Melton combine for something like a full season of wreaking havoc, the supplemental youngsters (Bradin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Gui Santos, young bigs Trayce Jackson-Davis and Quinten Post) come in where they fit around the aging tents, and Dunleavy finds a deal with Kuminga that bolsters the core. The Warriors end up with home field advantage in Round 1 and, with a healthy Steph, a great chance against anyone they face in the West.
If everything falls apart
A roster carefully built around four of the NBA’s oldest players falls apart when those guys do what old guys do: get hurt and miss time. Golden State looks bright for periods, but only for periods, and none of those supplemental youngsters prove capable of carrying a heavier load. No Kuminga deal materializes, and the bad taste of this summer lingers on a disappointing season spent fighting for a play-in spot ending before April is out… and with Steph looking ahead to his age-38 season, the end of the line appears to be approaching faster than anyone would like.
Advertisement
Calendar 2025-26
-
season opening: October 21 at Los Angeles Lakers
If you start factoring in a couple of weeks of wasted time here and there for your gray-bearded critics, it won’t be hard to see a world where they drop below 40 degrees. But what if what we get is the version of the Warriors that finished last season plus Horford? So Golden State should surpass this number.
More season previews
This: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
Advertisement
West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • Los Angeles Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz