We Just Witnessed The End Of Curry And The Warriors As We Know It
195,295
Published 2024-04-14
It’s 2019 NBA Finals. The Warriors just lost Kevin Durant for a second time due to an achilles tear. Klay Thompson already missed game 3, leaving Curry facing a box and one.
And in Game 6, when Klay Thompson goes for dunk and lands on the floor in pain, the camera pans to Curry who is sitting on the floor in disbelief
And now in 2024, we saw Curry have a similar reaction, with tears on his face, not because of Draymond getting ejected 4 minutes into the game, but because of what it means. This season for the Warriors has been a disaster. And it’s finally breaking Steph Curry, but why now? Why is Curry just done with the Warriors?
The Warriors made the best of the situation getting D’Angelo Russell who they would later flip for Andrew Wiggins, but man 2019-2021 were rough. 2019 because Curry and Klay were both hurt, and they went 15 and 50 but in 2020, Curry went through it for several reasons.
Now if you think Stephen Curry doesn’t care, think again. He cares about what people start saying, remember Kendrick Perkins, he cares about his legacy, something we’re about to get to in 2022 but Curry who was already an NBA champion was getting disrespected and he answered by leading the league in scoring. Yes, Steph Curry without another all star carried the Warriors to an 8th seed.
The hope was that once Klay Thompson would come back, maybe the Warriors could be good again.
But management didn’t. They just didn’t believe that the team could get it done and wanted the team to focus on younger players.
In fact the Warriors going into the 2021-22 season were 9th in power rankings by bleacher report, 13th in LA times.
But Klay would come back and while he wasn’t the same old Klay, he had his moments and was good enough that Curry’s faith was rewarded. Wiggins revamped himself, players finally understood how to play with Curry, how to spot him wide open.
And perhaps the most important, Steph Curry finally won his finals MVP. You can see how much it meant to him, crying on the court.
And afterwards, he was talking the talk, especially to all the doubters.
Well duh, when you go from kicking your opponents to punching your own teammates, that tends to happen. So another year lost in the championship window.
Where most players would have lost out on hope before the first championship, and even after last season, Curry had a lot of faith in himself and his closest teammates could get it done but that doesn’t seem likely because of piece #2 the Warriors are potentially calling it quits after this season and that’s coming from the Warriors owner.
It’s no secret that Klay and Draymond Green’s contracts are ending soon. Klay is up this year, Draymond next. But the Warriors paid over $150 million in taxes last year to keep this exact roster in taxt. That’s right, the new luxury tax rules made the Warriors a luxury tax repeater making them pay higher rates for going over the salary cap since they re signed their core to massive contracts.
And Joe Lacob, the owner, is sick of it. He’s stated that he wants to completely be out of the luxury tax.
And that’s the thing. It’s not injuries that is holding this team back right now. It’s the players and management themselves.
And yes while Curry proved all the haters wrong winning a finals MVP, he has a chance to do something special, something that would cement his legacy, and that’s Piece #3, a 5th championship can put Steph Curry as the best point guard of all time.
At the current moment, there is the conversation of who’s the best point guard of all time: Magic or Steph. Even Steph was asked about it he said, Now the main argument holding Steph back is that Magic has one more championship. But if that was equalized, would that mean Steph would be the best point guard?
Steph, like Jordan, takes a lot of things personally. And take the words of his teammates,
And apparently Jordan said that Magic is the best point guard of all time.
This 5th championship puts Curry firmly in the top 10 of all time, because he’s already done the rest. He has one of the biggest impacts on the game, he’s a multiple time MVP winner, and broke countless records. The reason why we are entertaining this debate is because Steph has the full resume, he has that aura.
All Comments (21)
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Are the Warriors making the playoffs?
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I admire Steph’s dedication and passion for the game, but that’s the problem. While he still has that drive to win, most of the people around him are ready to move on. I sympathize for him
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Steph is my favorite NBA player of all time. I hope his team can support him even further bro definitely needs them.
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Dray has been the Warriors' Heart and Ass. With his age and regressing talent, his ASS is outweighing his production. As a vet, he should know his limits.
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Let’s be honest, Draymond was responsible for the loss in the finals to Lebron, then calls Durant a B@tch, slugs Poole, then all the incidents throughout this season 😂
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Why put those negative vibes out there? Stephen is aging like everyone else, but what is different is he takes care of his mind or mental as well as his physical health. No, he’s not breaking down, he’s simply taking more breaks. He’s still the best and will be for the next few years. Long live Steph for his unselfish sharing of his monumental talent and wealth ❤️💯.
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Draymond needs to stop beefing and boxing with everyone ong 💀
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Wasting the #2 draft pick on Wiseman is having consequences. Imagine if we got Anthony Edwards or Maxey or Haliburton
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HE’S 36!!! HE’S NOT THANOS!
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There’s legit no argument to have Steph outside of the top 10 all time 😭😭😭. Idk why people always have him in the 11-13 range. The highest Steph can go to is 6th the lowest is 8th all time.
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I work as an executive in HR and one thing we teach our managers when building teams is that no matter how productive someone is, toxic behavior shouldn’t be allowed. I think the Warriors would’ve been just as great, maybe even better, without Draymond. Aside from the player, I actually subscribe and watch his podcast.
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I know it's unthinkable but honestly trading Curry could be mutually beneficial for both parties. The Warriors don't have the assets to trade for another star who can make them competitive in the West and they sure as hell don't have time to wait for young players to develop. Holding on to Curry at this stage is just wasting his final good years. Even at his age now they could still get a king's ransom for him from a team that has the ability to be a contender, which enables them to get a head start on the inevitable rebuild as opposed to being a tweener team until Steph retires and having nothing to show for it. Steph then gets to play out his last good years competing for another chip. Win win for both sides.
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In my humble opinion Curry is more impactful to a team than Lebron is. I’m not saying Lebron isn’t great but if I was trying to put someone on my team to make the biggest impact I’d pick Curry
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The Warriors collapse has been a little jarring, but also Curry is very much on the downside of his career. Just because he lights it up every few games doesn’t mean his window isn’t shut. Klay and Draymond the same. Cold reality, but it was a fun ride!
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Bruh just hearing abt Dray pissing me off 🥲
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I like how you now see the views move up in real time like twitter
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Warriors been playing better lately
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Bro, if u have to draft either Magic or Curry, I'm picking Steph all day
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I can only see Steph Curry going to SAC Kings for Fox & Monk. He gets to play with his former coach Mike Brown in a system built for his style of play :D
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Warriors dynasty ended after their 2022 title run
