The Golden State Warriors have given Stephen Curry no shot at serious title contention after an offseason of inaction. They are running back last year’s roster that finished with 37 wins and was tenth in the Western Conference. Golden State lost Quinten Post and hasn’t added anyone so far. To make matters worse, two of their five highest-paid players will start the season injured. The other three are over 30 and injury risks themselves.
There is no way Curry can get this team into title contention. The pressure is on him to be a superstar every night. He is the only healthy 20-point-per-game scorer with Jimmy Butler injured and Kristaps Porzingis needing his playing time monitored closely. Curry and Green are the only two capable of being the primary ball-handler, and the Dubs desperately need the star's floor spacing to stay afloat offensively.
That is a nearly impossible burden for a 38-year-old to carry over an 82-game regular season. The Warriors were 13-26 without Curry last season, and they won’t be better this year. Butler is coming off a torn ACL, and Draymond Green isn’t turning into a dynamic scorer. They simply don’t have enough around Steph to be a contender.
Warriors have made it almost impossible for Stephen Curry to win
Curry is an all-time great and keeps performing like a superstar. He averaged 26.6 points, 4.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 30.9 minutes per game last season. The 12-time All-Star shot 46.8 percent from the field and 39.3 percent on his 3-point attempts. He is still one of the toughest covers in the league, but Curry can’t do it alone.
Even if he plays 70 games, the Warriors don’t have enough around him to finish in the top six in the West. He has only reached that figure twice in the last nine years, but it is possible. Butler won’t be back until Christmas. Porzingis has played more than 60 games just once in nine years. Al Horford is nearing the end of his legendary career.
The only improvement Golden State can hope for comes from Brandin Podziemski. The 23-year-old keeps getting better, but he is more of a quality role player than a superstar.
The rest of the roster is difficult to count on because of age or injury. They won 37 games and were disastrous without Curry. Even with him, the Warriors won 55.8 percent of their games, which would have placed them seventh in the West and three games behind the Timberwolves, who finished sixth. Golden State is a play-in team with Curry and a lottery squad without him.
The Warriors did create an avenue to improve their roster in the 2027 offseason. They will have cap space, but getting there means losing Butler and Green or convincing them to come back on significant discounts. That is always easier said than done.
Fans need to lower their expectations. The dynasty has faded. This is not a title-contending roster. Curry wants to chase a fifth championship and be a one-franchise player. Unfortunately, those things aren’t possible this season.
Golden State could remake their roster next summer and change that, but this season the burden on Curry is entirely too high. At his age, he just can’t will this roster to challenge the Knicks, Spurs, Thunder, or any of the top teams in the NBA.
The Golden State Warriors tried to get LeBron James, but deciding to run it back after that failure has left Stephen Curry in a virtually impossible position to seriously contend. They just don’t have the talent and are clearly thinking about their future after Curry’s retirement.
If they refuse to push their chips in, this will be the case for the rest of the future Hall of Famer’s career. Fans don’t want to hear that, but that is the unfortunate reality. All they can do is hope that the Dubs make a push and give Curry one final shot at a fifth ring.
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