Ahead of the Golden State Warriors' first preseason game, Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard James Harden was having some fun by joining the screaming fans in cheering for Stephen Curry as he walked on the court before the game. Harden's yell of Steph's name can barely be heard over the roar of the crowd.
It's hard to know what to expect with the Warriors and Clippers this year. It's probably not going to be a very fun season for either team.
Paul George is no longer in LA and joined the Philadelphia 76ers. It's unclear when Kawhi Leonard will be able to play. And Harden isn't getting any younger, now 35 years old.
Klay Thompson is on the Dallas Mavericks. Buddy Hield is an excellent shooter to take his place, but Golden State is in a new era. Jonathan Kuminga, entering his fourth season with Golden State, must continue to provide a scoring spark in an expanded role. Brandin Podziemski, the Warriors' 2023 first-round pick, will be tasked to play big minutes this year as well. A thin frontcourt could be exposed if any Draymond Green antics result in a suspension (whether imposed by the NBA or the team.)
Projecting the 2024-25 Golden State Warriors
It seems almost hard to believe that the Warriors are only a couple of years removed from winning a title, their fourth in eight years. Fans and pundits were talking about a dynasty. But the 2022-23 season resulted in a first-round bounce against the Los Angeles Lakers as the No. 6 seed, and the Warriors couldn't even eke out a playoff spot, finishing 10th in the West.
The Chris Paul experiment had obviously failed. The departure of Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards proved to cost the Warriors too much offense. Andrew Wiggins wasn't the same or as consistent as he was during their previous title run. So, where do the Warriors go from here? This makes more headlines from Draymond Green's antics that their wins on the court.
If you ask Green, the Warriors will get back to their winning ways by sheer force of will, per Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
“I know I ain’t done. I know [Curry] ain’t done. So it ain’t like, ‘All right, I feel like I’m at the end. I’m cashing it in.’ Nah. We can do that s**t again. I know we can do it again. I’m not a part of the consortium that don’t think we can get it done,” Green said.
The 2024-25 NBA regular season begins on Tuesday, October 22.
