Sharing a 2020 vision nobody saw coming
Thunder, Warriors might have same lottery goal but different long-term timelines
Dozens of kids leaned over the southwest tunnel railing at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Nearly every one of them was
waiting for Stephen Curry. They dangled No. 30 bl ue and gold jerseys, hoping the Golden State star would sign autographs before the game.
But that was two weeks ago, back when the Warriors still had hope and three healthy All-Stars. Even that version of the Warriors was throttled in Oklahoma City by 28 points.
Curry won't run through that tunnel at 7 p.m. Saturday when OK C hosts Golden State for the second time this season. The best shooter in the
the NBA will be sidelined for at least three months and perhaps the rest of the season after undergoing surgery last week on his broken left hand. Fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson is unlikely to return this season as he rehabs from a torn ACL.
Draymond Green will also be out Saturday with a torn ligament in his left index finger. Center Kevon Looney has no timeline for a return with nerve-related issues. Guard Jacob Evans is out with a left adductor strain.
The Warriors who will take the floor Saturday in Oklahoma City will be unrecognizable — an unthinkable idea considering Golden State has appeared in the last five NBA Finals and has come away with three rings.
The vaunted Hamptons Five lineup of Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Curry, Thompson and Green are either injured or in a new city. Both, in Durant's case.
“Time goes by, right ?” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “Teams change. It's just kind of the way the NBA is … You don't necessarily look at it like, `OK, a year ago was Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry, and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.' It's a different year, a different team. Our team's different, too. I think you just watch the film to prepare for what you're going to see in the game.”
Eleven players logged minutes for the Warriors in their Game 6 NBA Finals loss to the Raptors on June 13. Not one of them will suit up five months later against the Thunder.
As of Friday, Eric Paschall, Glenn Robinson III, Jordan Poole, Damion Lee and Ky Bowman are the five leading Warriors in total minutes played. Paschall, Poole and Bowman are rookies. Lee has played in 55 career games. Robinson III is a 25-year-old who is already playing for his fifth team.
“They'll be better because of the amount of minutes they're getting, just like some of our young guys are going to be better because of the amount of minutes they're playing,” Donovan said. “You're trying to help develop those guys.”
Analytics site Fi veThirtyEight, based on 100,000 simulations of the rest of the season, gives the Warriors a two percent chance to make the playoffs. Only the Knicks have longer odds for a postseason berth. The Thunder, by comparison, sits at 25 percent.
But the Thunder and Warriors front offices likely have the same goal: securing a lottery pick in the 2020 draft. Beyond that, the organizations are on different timelines.
While the Thunder has yet to enter a total rebuild, the Warriors can't even use the word. It's more like a one-year break in the Bay Area.
Even if Golden State trades D'Angelo Russell, the Warriors could enter the 2020-21 season with a healthy All-Star core of Curry, Thompson and Green playing alongside a potential top-10 pick.
This is Golden State's dormant season. Next year will bring a new eruption.