Golden State Warriors’ superstar Stephen Curry has allayed any fears of any potential offensive issues with new teammate Chris Paul.
The franchise shockingly traded for the 38-year-old back in June, pairing arguably the two greatest point-guards of the generation together on the same team. Once sworn enemies, Curry and Paul have now joined forces in the hopes of adding a fifth title for the Warriors over the past decade.
While Stephen Curry believes his offensive fit with Chris Paul is ‘seamless’, he does concede there will be some defensive challenges for the duo and their Golden State Warriors teammates.
Speaking at a press conference following day 3 of training camp, Curry revealed he and Paul have already built their chemistry through hours of playing pickup games together over the offseason. While the two have the skill and veteran experience to make things easy on the offensive side off the ball, the defensive end may be more of a question mark.
"“It’s pretty seamless really, to be honest. There’s challenges in terms of how we matchup, making sure we’re defensively sound and how we play on that end of the floor…Offensively really seamless because we’re just playing good basketball”, Curry said."
A small (and old) back-court pairing of Paul and Curry does pose defensive issues heading into the season. However, both have belied their size to become good defenders, particularly Paul who has earned nine All-NBA defense selections (but none since 2017).
The Warriors finished 14th in defensive rating last season, well below their second-place position during their championship-winning season the year before. Head coach Steve Kerr recently stated that returning to a top 10 defense would be “the first order of business” for Golden State in 2023-24.
Their chances of achieving that early in the season have been dealt a major blow with an ankle injury to former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green. The 33-year-old’s absence could place more pressure on the remainder of the Warriors’ key players, including Curry and Paul.
The point-guard duo will take to an NBA floor for the first time together when the Warriors host the Lakers in their preseason opener on Saturday.