This era of the Golden State Warriors, for all intents and purposes, feels like it's reaching its conclusion.
Stephen Curry is entering his age-38 season. Jimmy Butler, who was the team's last big trade swing, will be out until at least the middle of 2026-27, and he'll be 37 and recovering from an ACL tear when he returns. With the way the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are positioned at the top of the Western Conference, there seems to be little chance for Golden State to scratch out a deep playoff run— let alone another championship.
But crazier things have happened. Remember 2022?
Even setting aside the LeBron James discussion, this roster has some serious upside as it stands. If Curry remains at the top of his game and Golden State is able to surround him with the right mix of contributors, virtually anything can happen when we get to the playoffs.
In a recent interview with Warriors reporter Monte Poole, legendary coach Doc Rivers reflected that sentiment— calling back to his championship in 2008 with the Boston Celtics as an example of the right formula.
“I thought when we won it in 2008, we had the perfect mix,” Rivers told Poole. “We had the old guys at the front of the team and then we actually had the really old guys at the back of the team and then we had the young guys in the middle. It was like a push-pull thing. The old guys would just pull the young guys along, the young guys would push the old guys every day in practice and I think it’s a good mix and that’s what you have to have." Doc Rivers via NBC Sports Bay Area
The path for Golden State, of course, lies through Curry. But it will also take major strides from the young guys— including Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, and Yaxel Lendeborg— to get the Warriors even close to where they want to go this season.
The Warriors need their young players to provide the right injection of energy into this roster
Granted, the Celtics team that Rivers references was much younger, on the whole, than Golden State will be this season. But the parallel that Rivers attempts to draw isn't entirely unfounded. That Boston squad had its trio of veterans in Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett— each of whom was over the age of 30 that season. But they also had a strong mix of young pieces, with Glen Davis, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins all playing rotational roles during that playoff run.
With the right mix and the some magic, the path is at least there for the Warriors to be competitive in the Western Conference.
Lendeborg, first and foremost, will need to develop into an immediately reliable two-way contributor. His activity on defense is already impressive, but he'll need to maintain the level of offensive efficiency he showed in Summer League in order to maximize his on-court impact.
Brandin Podziemski, for his part, would need to finally put things together on the offensive end. He's shown flashes of being a solid on-ball scorer and facilitator over the past couple of seasons, but his inconsistencies have been too frequent to count on him in a real playoff role.
Santos would need to continue to build on the momentum he started to gain last season, operating as a real complementary offensive threat as cutter and a paint scorer.
But if all of these developments come together and Golden State is able to work in the right mixture of veteran contributors— like De'Anthony Melton and Al Horford— there's a world where this team far exceeds expectations in 2026-27, even without James on the roster.
Rivers, at the very least, has hinted at the blueprint.
Add us as a preferred source on Google