The Golden State Warriors are headed in the wrong direction right now. They have lost six of their last 10 games and two of their most important players, Stephen Curry and Kristaps Porzingis, are injured on top of the already season-ending torn ACL for Jimmy Butler. In the case of Curry and Porzingis, neither has a concrete timetable for when they will be back on the floor.
If the season ended today, the Warriors would be a Play-In team. Yet with the current state of the team, do they even want that? Is there a way for Golden State to tank so bad that they miss the Play-In entirely?
Warriors cannot escape Play-In no matter what they do
The short answer is no, not really.
Right now the Warriors have a record of 31-30. They are the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers, who currently sit at 30-31, and the Portland Trail Blazers who currently sit at 30-33.
The next best team in the standings is the Memphis Grizzlies who are at 23-37, and who don't seem to be actively trying to win. That means the Warriors would have to lose a ton of ground to the Grizzlies in the final 20 or so games of the season, something that's simply not going to happen.
It wouldn't be a huge shock if the Clippers and Blazers ended up surpassing the Warriors though. With Golden State trending in their current direction, things could potentially get ugly by the end of the season and they could be staring at the No. 10 seed.
If that's the case, they would have to beat the No. 9 seed on the road and then play the loser of the Play-In matchup between the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds, only to earn them a series with the No. 1 seed in the West which, at this point, would be the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sounds fun!
Even if the Warriors did have an opportunity to tank their way out of the Play-In, they probably wouldn't do it. Head coach Steve Kerr has talked about the issue of tanking in the NBA and how it's not good for fans, while NBA commissioner Adam Silver has announced there will be plans to enact anti-tanking rules next season.
The Warriors are too proud of a franchise to sink to that level, but the fact that it's even a legitimate consideration shows how sideways this season has gone.