On the eve of the new NBA season for the Golden State Warriors, expectations are low. They aren't even existent if you ask head coach Steve Kerr. Even if he won't lay out any expectations, it is not crazy to say that the best-case scenario for the team this season is a first-round playoff exit which obviously would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
Even last season the Warriors were still talking about having championship aspirations. After how the team ended the 2024-25 campaign it was not unreasonable to think aggressively like that, but it became pretty clear even before the team lost Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody that they did not have enough talent to make a really deep run.
The Athletic recently did their power rankings and predictions going into the season and their prediction for the Warriors is finishing as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and another Play-In appearance. The author Law Murray predicts that they will sneak through the playoffs and lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.
The wild thing is that the Warriors would probably sign up for that immediately if that outcome was offered to them. At least that would be a nice improvement from last season and would give Stephen Curry a chance to dazzle on the big stage against the Thunder. Maybe he even has enough magic to win a game or two and scare Oklahoma City just a bit.
Warriors have different goals now and that is okay
It's crazy to think how things can change so quickly for a franchise, but this is simply where they're at right now. It's very hard to keep a dynasty going for as long as they have and the alternative to this is what the Chicago Bulls did by trading moving on from everyone.
As long as Curry is healthy and on the floor, the Warriors will still be an entertaining product. Yet the double-edged sword of that is that every big game he has, whether he leads the team to victory or they come up just short, will renew the calls for the Warriors to do more, or will amplify those who bemoan the fact that Golden State hasn't done enough to surround Curry with stars at the end of his career.
Those people have a point, but championships are no longer the goal. Instead incremental improvement and a return to fundamentals will animate the team this season. While that may be jarring, the quicker one accepts it the easier this season will be to watch for Warriors fans.
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