Over a six game span, starting in the 2019 NBA Finals and finishing at the very start of the 2019-2020 NBA season, the Warriors franchise and dynasty was turned on its head.
In the fifth game of the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant ruptured his achilles, pretty much ensuring that he was leaving. In the next game, Klay Thompson played great, but tore his ACL at the end, rendering him to the sidelines for a year. They also lost that game, as well as the NBA Finals, to the Toronto Raptors.
But it was going to be alright. They were going to have Steph, Draymond and DLo to carry them to the playoffs again. They still have three all-stars, right? Well... that's not exactly happening.
They lost in their opening game, giving up 141 points to a Paul George-less Clippers team. They then lost to the OKC Thunder, who traded their only two all-stars over the offseason, by 28.
But they won their next game against the Pelicans! Yeah, but the Pelicans were missing three starters that would be playing the rest of the year. But then came the dagger that pretty much ended the season. A loss to the Phoenix Suns, in which former MVP Stephen Curry broke his left hand.
As season ending injuries go, it could be worse. It's his non shooting hand, so he'll still be able to be the best shooter in the history of the NBA, and it almost always heals correctly, unlike ACL or achilles injuries.
Draymond Green is currently dealing with a hand injury (possibility of a torn ligament), and D'angelo Russell probably won't be an all star in the Western Conference. But it's not necessarily a bad thing, at least not long term.
They technically can't tank (or lose on purpose for those people who don't follow the NBA as close as I do) because they'd be fined, but they're pretty much tanking.
So yeah, the first year in San Francisco will be a pretty bad one, but all this bad luck is setting the Warriors up great for the future. They can possibly trade Russell in a month and a half, getting some depth and picks. They have some great young players, Eric Paschall just dropped 30 points on his birthday, and if they tank well enough they could get a great draft pick in the 2020 draft. And based on how Klay, Steph and Draymond were all drafted by the Warriors' General Manager Bob Myers, that pick will probably transform into a good player.
So they could potentially have their three all-stars back, plus great young players ready to be good rotation players, and then a rookie like Lamelo Ball or James Wiseman. They might not even need any other great players. Remember, they won 73 regular season games without Kevin Durant, and almost completed the greatest season in the history of the NBA.
So they'll be terrible this year, but then the old fire will return and I won't be surprised if Steph, Klay and Dray win another ring together.
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