Golden State’s season is quickly coming near the end line, the 2nd straight season in which the Warriors are hovering close to .500. Their file makes one element painfully clear: Golden State ought to collect a reliable 2d choice in the back of Stephen Curry this offseason.
If remaining season’s second-round exit didn’t make it obvious, this season possibly did. Besides Curry (26.9 PPG), the next-best player for the Warriors (34-31) is third-year ahead Jonathan Kuminga, who has posted career-highs in points (16.1), rebounds (4.8) and assists (2.1) per recreation and earned an uptick in minutes over the previous season (20.8 to 26).
However, a great deal of this manufacturing didn’t come until the middle of the season (after Jan. 5), when The Athletic broke the story that Kuminga had misplaced faith in head teach Steve Kerr and no longer believed he would permit him to attain his full potential.
Since the report, Kuminga has averaged 19.9 factors in 30.1 minutes per game compared to the 12.8 points he averaged before the news.
Kuminga is a brilliant spot, however his inexperience shows on the defense, whether it’s in transition …
Kuminga ought to be a mainstay on the roster for years and has all the tools to be an elite defender. He ought to even increase into a workable No. 2 choice on a championship team, but he needs greater time to develop, some thing the Warriors don’t have a whole lot of with the cutting-edge roster.
With Curry turning 36 on Thursday and 34-year-old Klay Thompson displaying his age (averaging only 17 PPG), the clock is ticking for the Warriors to make a championship run with their exceptional player.
Chris Paul’s contract is up after this season, the mercurial Draymond Green is 34 and the Warriors’ other “prime” gamers — Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney, Dario Saric and Gary Payton II — are too erratic on the court. That leaves the offensive burden to mostly be carried via Curry.
Wiggins has proven flashes of his 2022 All-Star self this season, however he is unreliable. The 2022 NBA champion is averaging profession lows in points (12.6), assists (1.7) and minutes (26.8), which pressured Kerr to bring him off the bench for the first time in his career.
Although Payton II has been productive in his minutes this season, he has missed 35 of 65 games. Like Draymond, he isn’t always a huge threat on offense, shrinking the ground in an era the place spacing is essential.
Additionally, the bad performances through Looney and Saric have precipitated Kerr to take each bigs out of the rotation and provide rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis more enjoying time.
Curry’s generational scoring ability and gravity have blanketed up an awful lot of the roster development issues for years. Yet, Father Time is undefeated. The Warriors owe it to themselves — and in particular to Curry — to get a stellar 2d scorer.
Capitalize while you nonetheless have one of the best gamers of all time on your side.
