https://open.spotify.com/episode/PKJTLNoUKFYp3YXDd7a2L?si=VcxFAX5LTe2uDQn3_532UA
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Throughout the 2010s decade, the Golden State Warriors were the best team at nearly every metric. From the shooting to the chemistry, they were able to dominate the league at a consistent rate.
The team revolved around guys Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Stephen Curry. All these guys brought something different to Golden State, which resulted in many finals championships.
As the 2020s rolled around, however, key pieces on their offense left, which made the team start to crumble. It had gotten to a point where their offense couldn’t perform anywhere close to the level they held prior. After their last finals run in 2022, the team started to drop in the standings, specifically after losing stars like Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and Jordan Poole.
In 2024, the Warriors had a solid season, landing them a 7 seed. Unfortunately, the Warriors had an early exit in the 2nd round after losing Curry early on in the series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
All these events led up to 2025, where the warriors were expected to have a mid-to-low projected statistical season. The analysts were right, but not for the reasons you might think.
Throughout the season, there were various high points and low points for the warriors. A good example of this is Stephen Curry. In the games he played, he averaged an impressive 26 points per game, with 3 rebounds and 5 assists. He also had a 47% field goal percentage, leading him to be ranked the overall 76th best player in the league. This stat however, is also somewhat of a red herring, because Curry only played half the season.
Apart from the 43 games Curry participated in this season, there weren’t many other players that excelled in the games played. Even though there were standout performances by players like Draymond Green and Pat Spencer, they didn’t create enough of a long-standing impact on the team to push them to that next level.
Another thing that slowed Golden State down was the injuries. The two players that missed the most amount of time on the team were Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry. After multiple setbacks in the last half of the 2026 season, Curry was finally able to come back from his Knee injury in April. Jimmy Butler, on the other hand, is a different story.
On January 19th, 2026, the Warriors had a matchup against the Miami Heat. Around the 8 minute mark in the 3rd quarter, star shooter Jimmy Butler was attempting to retrieve a pass from Brandon Podziemski, and tore his ACL. This caused the Warriors season to free fall in the standings in the weeks that followed. They had a record of 12-26 after Butler’s injury.
Going into April, Golden State was projected to be (and was) the only team to make the tournament with a losing record. They finished the season ranked 10th in the west, with a record of 37-45.
Because of their mediocre results from the season, Golden State had to participate in the sudden death play-in tournament in order to get in the playoffs. In dramatic fashion, the Warriors narrowly squeaked out a win against the Los Angeles Clippers, but lost in the 2nd round to the Phoenix Suns. (thanks to a star performance from Jalen Green)
Overall, the Warriors had a pretty mixed season overall, but it is looking up with Steve Kurr recently signing a contract extension for another 2 years.
