The Golden State Warriors may have won another championship in 2022, but that doesn't take from the fact they haven't entirely maximized the Stephen Curry era over the past five or six years.
Fans have been incredibly critical of the franchise's futuristic ambitions, rather than go all in on the Curry timeline. Now, as the Warriors perilously sit eighth in the Western Conference -- and in the wake of Jimmy Butler's season-ending injury -- those in charge may finally be coming to the same Curry realization.
Warriors realize they've 'screwed' Stephen Curry
Speaking during Wednesday's episode of 'Dubs Talk', Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area revealed a recent conversation with someone within the franchise about the team's decision-making over the past few years.
"Somebody in the building at Chase Center told me about three weeks ago, 'we've really kind of screwed Steph over the past few years,'" Poole said. "This two-timeline thing, no that didn't work. The way they drafted, they didn't draft guys who were ready to play."
Instead of using their three lottery picks across the 2020 and 2021 NBA Drafts for a win-now trade, Golden State selected young players they hoped would help usher in a new generation after Curry. Two of those in particular, James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga, were high upside picks who were always going to take time to develop.
Wiseman failed spectacularly, and the Kuminga era is all but over after nearly five years of incredible inconsistency. The last of the lottery picks, Moses Moody, is a solid starter for Golden State right now, but even that selection is painful when you consider Alperun Sengun, Trey Murphy III and Jalen Johnson were all available.
For as much as the Warriors may have screwed Curry in recent years, they have the chance to do the absolute best thing by him right now. Golden State have held off from trading future first-round picks for notable players who could have helped the 2x MVP, and as a result they now have the opportunity to go completely all in on a blockuster deal for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This would be the ultimate move to prioritize Curry. For the first time in a long time, the nearly 38-year-old would no longer be the best player on the team. The Warriors will always be Curry's team, but he'd have someone to hand the baton to in a way the franchise could never generate through the draft.
The franchise realizing they've failed Curry is years overdue, but it might not be too late so long as they can pull off a massive Antetokounmpo trade in the next week.