{"id":115678,"date":"2025-01-02T14:57:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T19:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=115678"},"modified":"2025-01-02T18:02:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T23:02:18","slug":"warriors-lessons-2024-use-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/02\/warriors-lessons-2024-use-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden State Warriors Lessons From 2024 To Use In 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors were once the envy of every other NBA franchise. Unfortunately, the team that won four championships from 2015 to 2022 in six Finals appearances is no longer as elite<\/a>\u00a0as we turn to 2025. The past two seasons since the remarkable ’22 run have steadily declined into mediocrity in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

In 2022-23, the Warriors were the sixth seed, outlasting the Sacramento Kings in a seven-game dogfight, only to lose to a beatable Los Angeles Lakers team in six contests. Last year, inconsistencies, drama from the Jordan Poole<\/a> trade fallout, and antics from Draymond Green<\/a> landed the Warriors in the play-in. The Kings gained revenge by blowing out the Dubs, sending Golden State into an off-season of introspection.<\/p>\n

Looking back on 2024, there are some lessons the Warriors need to use in 2025.<\/p>\n

Golden State Warriors Lessons From 2024 To Use In 2025<\/h2>\n

Steph Is No Longer Able to Carry the Franchise\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite the clear mediocrity on the floor in 2024, Mike Dunleavy failed to make any transformational moves in the summer. The Warriors parted ways with franchise icon Klay Thompson<\/a> and brought Buddy Hield<\/a> to replace him. They also made smaller moves, adding De’Anthony Melton<\/a> and Kyle Anderson<\/a>. The idea was to improve around the margins, build strong depth, and let the young players get real minutes for the first time.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, these additions haven’t helped the team at all. Hield has cooled off to being nearly unplayable after a scorching start, while Anderson hasn’t been a difference-maker. Melton was a perfect fit at the two next to Stephen Curry<\/a>\u00a0but suffered a knee injury and was traded for Dennis Schroder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Golden State attempted to recreate a version of their 2022 championship team. Curry, Draymond, and a bunch of good role players who do their jobs well. They may not want to admit it, but Curry isn’t a dominant enough player in 2024-25 to build the roster in the same way. He is having one of his most inefficient seasons on lower shooting volume. At 36, he doesn’t have it in him to carry this team like he has so many times in the past.<\/p>\n

Dubs Must Decide: All-In Trade or Rebuild?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Warriors are stuck in the worst position any NBA organization can find themselves in. They are anchored to the middle of the league, mired in mediocrity<\/a> with a roster unfit for their superstar legend. They aren’t nearly good enough to compete with the best teams but are too good to secure a high draft pick. Furthermore, Curry is still playing well enough to deserve a contending team around him.<\/p>\n

Thus, Dunleavy must decide: push the future assets to the middle and make an all-in star trade or send Curry to a real contender and start over. If the years since their 2022 ring have taught them anything, the Warriors should realize they need help.<\/p>\n

This past summer, Golden State chose not to part ways with young players and picks to bring in Lauri Markkanen<\/a>. The Utah Jazz star was just one of several ceiling-raisers available, but they wanted to hang onto their prospects. Well, it is clear that the two timelines approach has failed. Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, Moses Moody<\/a>, and Brandin Podziemski<\/a> aren’t enough to contribute to winning. Meanwhile, Curry only has a few years left, at best, to still play at a high level.<\/p>\n

Several guys could be Curry’s Robin, such as Zach LaVine<\/a>, Brandon Ingram<\/a>, and Jimmy Butler<\/a>. Golden State has to decide whether they’re willing to sacrifice the future for Curry’s present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors were once the envy of every other NBA franchise. Unfortunately, the team that won four championships from 2015 to 2022 in six Finals appearances is no longer as elite\u00a0as we turn to 2025. The past two seasons since the remarkable ’22 run have steadily declined into mediocrity in the Bay Area. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5412,"featured_media":115718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,25,62],"tags":[1382,48],"class_list":["post-115678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-nba","tag-nba-trade","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115694,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115678\/revisions\/115694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}