Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Warriors' roster lacks secondary creation and faces significant risks with key players' health.
- Their front office's reluctance to retain draft picks limits their options for improvement this season.
- The team's best chance at competitiveness hinges on a high-stakes move to land LeBron that could define Stephen Curry's final playoff opportunities.
Who knows when LeBron James will make his long-anticipated free agency decision (hopefully soon). What is clear, though, is that no other team has more at stake than the Golden State Warriors.
The Miami Heat traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for LaMelo Ball and the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Jaylen Brown. While the Cleveland Cavaliers didn't make a big move this summer, they did just make the conference finals.
Conversely, the Warriors just missed the playoffs. Given their desire to keep Jimmy Butler, paired with their traditional hesitancy to keep their draft picks, signing James is their last shot at making a sizable addition.
While Stephen Curry is 38, he is still playing at an elite level. As such, the Warriors need to maximize his final years of high-quality play. And again, signing LeBron seems to be their lone path to upgrading the roster around Curry at this point.
The Warriors will be in a rough spot if they don't sign LeBron James
Sure, the Warriors were one game away from making the playoffs last season. Unfortunately, Butler will miss at least some of the season with an ACL injury and who knows what level of play the soon-to-be 37-year-old will be capable of upon returning.
The Warriors are devoid of secondary creation alongside Curry. They are also making the risky proposition of Kristaps Porziņģis staying healthy to have anything close to a competent center rotation. LeBron, despite his age, can still be a high-end secondary scoring option who can alleviate the pressure from Curry.
With these roster flaws, paired with teams like the Utah Jazz improving and the NBA's new lottery rules, the absolute best-case scenario for the Warriors without an addition is for them to make the playoffs as the sixth seed. In all likelihood, they'd be stuck in the Play-In Tournament (again), and who knows, they could even fall out of the top 10.
The point is, the Warriors are in a rough spot without LeBron, particularly considering how risk-averse their front office tends to be.
The Warriors need to give Stephen Curry one last competitive roster
Listen, I'm not here to tell you that by signing LeBron, the Warriors could catch up to the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs. At this point, that's out of the question. The goal should be simple, though: be a competitive playoff team.
There's no shame in giving Curry at least another one or two more playoff runs. Maybe even a couple of series wins. Adding LeBron would give the Warriors a path to being a truly competitive team in the West. They wouldn't challenge the Thunder or Spurs, but they could host a playoff series if all things go right.
What would be shameful, though, is having the last years of your generational star occur on bad teams. The end of Kobe Bryant's tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers is the most famous example of this.
If you are saying boohoo they won four championships with Curry, I get it. So sure, from that standpoint, it could be worse. However, not giving Curry a shot to play meaningful basketball to end his career is a failure from the Warriors' organization.
And given their stance on future picks, along with Butler seemingly unlikely to change, they are left going all in on a 41-year-old LeBron.
If the Warriors strike out on LeBron, fans need to brace themselves for Curry's last quality years to go to waste, and that's a tough realization to make.
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