The revelation of Fred VanVleet's likely season-ending knee injury has dealt a major blow to one of the Golden State Warriors biggest rivals, with the Houston Rockets now facing an uphill battle to being a legitimate championship contender despite the blockbuster addition of 2x Finals MVP Kevin Durant.
Much of the optimism surrounding the Rockets will now quieten as a result of VanVleet's injury, but it also provides a harrowing reminder to the Warriors and their own delicate place among the Western Conference's playoff contenders.
The Warriors will still rely on a healthy season from Stephen Curry
While the addition of Durant and the youth and improvement in Houston's young players should still see them vying for a playoff spot, the same likely won't be said for Golden State if they were to lose superstar guard Stephen Curry to any lengthy injury absence.
There's no doubt that the Warriors have always been reliant on Curry over the past dozen or so years, but their room for error is now far less than what it once might have been when Durant was a part of their star-studded roster.
Curry appeared in 51 regular season games during the 2017-18 championship year, then missed another 13 the following season as Golden State made the Finals for a fifth-straight year. Even when the Warriors won the title in 2022, Curry missed 18 games and entered the playoffs under an injury cloud.
It's hard to see how Golden State could keep their heads above water if Curry were to miss 15+ games this season, albeit the franchise now has more wiggle room than 12 months ago when Jimmy Butler was still a member of the Miami Heat.
It's a flaw in the Warrior roster that was again proven in the second-round of the playoffs where despite the presence of Butler and increased production from Jonathan Kuminga, the franchise lost four-straight games to the Minnesota Timberwolves after Curry went down with a hamstring injury.
It's almost impossible to escape the possibility of any significant Curry injury ruining the team's season, just as it did when the 2x MVP appeared in just five games during the 2019-20 season which saw the Warriors tumble to the worst record in the league.
Perhaps Kuminga can take a significant jump and offer Golden State a star scorer who can alleviate the burden on Curry, or maybe the young forward gets moved mid-season for a player capable of filling that role.
While the Warriors will enter the season confident of what they can achieve, VanVleet's injury is a stark reminder of how that can be taken away in one cruel twist of fate.