Bob Myers opens up about how injuries challenged the Warriors

The Golden State Warriors have battled a plethora of injuries in their quest to the Western Conference Finals, and while it might not have seemed that way, those injuries certainly played a role in the team’s struggles down the stretch.

It all started in the 2019 NBA Finals as Klay Thompson tore his ACL when going up for a dunk. He then ruptured his Achilles when rehabbing to play in 2020. Thompson was out until 2022 but made a return in January.

The Golden State Warriors battled through several significant injuries to key players, and those took its toll on the organization.

However, while Green was in the lineup for his return, the four-time All-Star forward was out from the middle of January to the middle of March. Quickly upon his return, Stephen Curry went down with a sprained foot.

It went from one injury to another. Having the trio together for the playoffs would’ve been necessary to get to this point, and at times, that didn’t look likely. It’s finally come together, which general manager Bob Myers discussed was the difficult part of the season.

"“The challenge for us was less about integrating youth as it was having our core play together. It was internally hard not to see Klay, Steph and Draymond play the entire season. That was not ideal. The struggle was less about the need to develop youth as much as it was knowing what kind of team we have, because we haven’t been healthy the entire year to see it. We tried to do that on the fly. Thank goodness they got back in rhythm pretty quickly. That was the hardest part,” Myers said via NBA.com’s Mark Medina."

The Warriors have had major improvements from their young core which is one reason they were able to weather the storm, one they weren’t able to get through a season ago. Players like Jonathan Kuminga and Jordan Poole played critical roles in several games for Golden State.

Poole, who many thought should’ve been up for the Most Improved Player award, has grown tremendously since his rookie season, and Kuminga showed that his poor shooting efficiency and decision-making issues which hampered his draft stock weren’t credible.

Even lottery pick Moses Moody has a few standout games. With those three having helped weather the storm, the Big 3, now at full strength, didn’t need much time to get back to their championship level.

All they need to do now is finish what’s been started. They have two series left to win their fourth title in 8 years, an impressive stretch of play for one of the most dominant dynasties of the 2000s.