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Golden State Warriors have two massive gaps to fill

By Tony Pesta

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 14: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors looks on against the Los Angeles Lakers during a pre-season game on October 14, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 14: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors looks on against the Los Angeles Lakers during a pre-season game on October 14, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Golden State Warriors have two massive gaps to fill in their lineup.

The 2019-20 NBA season is going to be challenging for the Golden State Warriors. Rarely has an NBA dynasty been hit with a more destructive summer than the disaster that has caught the Dubs.

Last season ended in explosive fashion. Injury after injury-plagued the Warriors playoff run as superstar names such as Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant suffered major injuries in back-to-back Finals games.

The Warriors were outmatched as the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA championship in six games while Thompson and Durant watched hopelessly from the sidelines. Losing KD and Thompson proved to be too much for the Dubs to overcome.

This season, the Dubs will be without these two stars once again. Durant has left in free agency and Thompson’s torn ACL will potentially hold him for the entirety of the season.

In place of Durant, the Warriors acquired D’Angelo Russell. The young All-Star is fresh off a career year with the Brooklyn Nets. However, asking D-Lo to fully replace the likes of KD and Thompson is an impossible task.

Russell will not even come close to matching the scoring output of Durant or Thompson. This leaves a gigantic gap in the Warriors lineup as those two combined for 40.5 percent of the Dubs points per game last season.

Golden State will have to rely heavily on Stephen Curry to increase his usage, but even then the Dubs have no shot at replacing the production of both Durant and Thompson. This leaves the Warriors with only one option and that is to make up for it on the defensive end.

Sadly, this is where the issues really start to begin. Thompson was the Warriors’ best perimeter defender and Durant offered a level of versatility that will not be matched by anyone else outside of Draymond Green.

The Dubs will not only struggle on offense without KD and Thompson but defense as well. There is no telling if any of the Dubs inexperienced role players are capable of stepping up and making a significant impact.

Next. Analyzing the Warriors chances of missing the playoffs. dark

It looks like this season could very well end in disappointment for the Dubs. Hopefully, Thompson manages to recover sooner than expected and give this team a fighting chance at a title.

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