Is the Golden State Warriors dynasty coming to an end? Some would contend that their time on earth is already over. To make the most of the 36-year-old franchise cornerstone’s remaining outstanding years, the Warriors front office must assemble a winning team as long as Stephen Curry is a member of the squad and performing at an All-Star level.
The good news is that the Warriors strengthened their squad this summer, even though some feel they should have acquired a big piece to increase their chances of winning a title or signed any free agents of All-Star status.
It may be painful to see Klay Thompson walk during the NBA free agency period, especially considering how crucial he was to starting the Dubs dynasty, but it made room for the addition of three players: De’Anthony Melton, Buddy Hield, and Kyle Anderson, who would all help the Warriors return to their previous ranking as one of the league’s deepest teams.
All contending teams, however, understand that creating a championship squad requires possessing a player of this archetype of high caliber. The Warriors’ current state of necessity is concerning because they haven’t improved upon it yet.
This is not to argue that the offseason for the Warriors has been poor. That is actually the furthest thing from the truth possible. However, they will need to make a major deal to upgrade at small forward if they want to be a legitimate contender in the loaded Western Conference.
The Warriors require a replacement for Andrew Wiggins.
Andrew Wiggins was worthless in 2020 when he was signed by the Warriors. The Minnesota Timberwolves brass expected Wiggins to develop into a franchise cornerstone, but he didn’t, and the Warriors realized they needed to get a player with Wiggins’ height and skill set on the wing if they were to compete again.
They did believe in Wiggins, but none could have predicted how he would perform for the Warriors in the 2021–2022 campaign. He appeared to be a completely different man, someone with a fresh determination to reach the highest level of NBA achievement.
Wiggins really embraced his role and developed into one of the association’s top 3-and-D players; as a result, he was recognized with an All-Star appearance.
Andrew Wiggins developed into the player that many believed he might be during the 2022 NBA playoffs.
Though he was often ridiculed for his tendency to score 17 points on the glass every night, his outside shooting was superb. In the last two playoff rounds, he stopped Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Luka Doncic, helping the Dubs win their fourth championship in the last ten years.
But things haven’t been good for Wiggins since then. Wiggins appeared to maintain his momentum from that historic playoff run, but he was sidelined by an adductor injury.
In addition, he had to handle some personal matters because Mitchell Wiggins, his father, was suffering from a grave illness. He was only able to play in 37 games that season, and the 2023–24 season turned out to be a complete bust, making it impossible for him to get back on track.
Last year, despite shooting 45/36/75 and scoring 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds, Andrew Wiggins had the worst season of his career. For a stretch of twelve games, he was even benched as the Warriors looked for solutions.
In other words, if the Warriors want to get back into the postseason and win the West, they simply cannot produce at this level. Because of this, nobody was shocked to learn that the Dubs were considering an opt-in and trade situation for Paul George in an effort to enhance the team’s wing position.
Despite his flaws, George averaged 23/5/4 on a career-high 61.3 true shooting % in the previous season. If he had been playing off of Stephen Curry, he could have easily defeated the Warriors. However, that trade never happened, maybe because the Dubs were unwilling to part with their talented young players in potential trades.
It makes sense, then, that the Warriors would want to hang onto players like Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga, and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Given that guys like Curry and Draymond Green aren’t getting any younger, the team wants to have some players on their roster who can grow into future leaders.
However, athletes with Curry’s level of success throughout multiple generations are rare. It might be preferable to use the trade chips the Warriors have to locate an upgrade at small forward if they don’t plan to rebuild anytime soon, as seen by their free-agent additions.
The Warriors need to take more initiative because it might not be the greatest idea to wait for Wiggins to figure it out.
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