Warriors We Once Knew No Longer Exist

Stephen Curry is coming off a dynamite showing with Team USA in the gold-medal game, and we’ll surely see more of those masterful performances with the Golden State Warriors this season.

But let’s face it, that alone again won’t be enough.

The Warriors can call themselves a dynasty during their run with Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and coach Steve Kerr (along with a few years of Kevin Durant). They will go down in NBA lore.

It was a historic run of championships and contention. And it is over.

Curry is getting older. Green is considerably less impactful. Thompson is gone. Now the Warriors are pushing names such as Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, and with good reason. Both are good young NBA players. They’re not winning you any titles, though. Not at this point. Not even with Curry, Green and Kerr.

Now, Golden State did make some intriguing moves. Quite frankly, the incoming trio of Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton are an upgrade, collectively, over Thompson. (Some may even tell you Hield alone fits such a description.)

The Warriors also have some decent depth, with Kuminga likely again to back up Green and Andrew Wiggins at the forward spot. Wiggins remains a trade chip, but his trade value is also at an all-time low. Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis should again serve as solid men in the middle.

It’s not a terrible go into the season. It’s also not something, on paper, that makes you think the Warriors will make anything resembling a serious run at anything meaningful. Not in a West that also features the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns, among others.

Those teams all have younger stars. The Warriors’ best players are on the wrong side of 30 and no longer have championship talent around them.

We knew this day would come for Golden State. It happens to everyone — so that’s not meant as an insult. It’s just reality. And for the Warriors, that reality has arrived.