With a 37-year-old Stephen Curry still playing at an elite level, there's already bound to be some level of pressure on the Golden State Warriors when their season gets underway next month.
Yet that pressure will reach a new level given everything they've been through this offseason, with all eyes set to be on Jonathan Kuminga and the team's performance after months of speculation and obvious discontent.
The Warriors simply have to make a strong start to quieten the otherwise inevitable chatter that's going to be centered on how their offseason is impacting on-court performances. But just how well do Golden State need to start in order to avoid the potential for more drama? Well, one insider has set them an almighty objective that might simply be too difficult to reach.
The Warriors must fire through the first 20 games
According to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, the "only way to avoid the toxicity of the blame game" is for the Warriors to jump out to a 15-5 start through 20 games and announce themselves as a legitimate threat in the Western Conference.
"Get to Thanksgiving Day with a record no worse than 15-5 and decorated vets Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler III and Draymond Green productive and in sync," Poole wrote. "See the reserves punishing opposing second units and Kuminga contributing to success, flashing glorious smiles to convey contentment, if not bliss."
If this is the benchmark simply to erode the tension surrounding Kuminga's dynamic within the team, then it's an extremely high one to set and perhaps one that's unrealistic (and therefore unfair) based on their schedule.
Seven of Golden State's first 12 games will come on the road, but more notably nine of them will come against teams who made the playoffs last season. It's certainly not the easiest opening, particularly for a team whose official training camp may still be impacted by Kuminga's continued free agency stalemate.
This is not to give the Warriors an out -- they will need to win at least 12 or 13 just to ensure they plant two feet in the playoff race early in the season. But while this is a results based industry at the end of the day, there will be just as much early attention placed on the 'vibes' around the team and what members of the organization are saying in media interviews and behind the scenes.
Poole is right though -- a strong start is imperative to Golden State's hopes of not only setting themselves up for playoff success, but ensuring that the frustration of the offseason doesn't infiltrate further to harmful effect.