The Warriors As We Know Them Look Cooked. What’s Next?

Joe Lacob’s dream of a “Spurs-like 20-year run” for the Golden State Warriors is looking more like a pipe dream with each passing game this season. The latest debacle: A 24-point lead squandered against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, blowing a spot in the NBA’s in-season tournament and losing it to a conference rival. Watching Golden State’s lead trickle away in the second half, I was reminded of something Golden State’s former general manager, Bob Myers, said about his team’s dynastic run almost six years ago: “I definitely know this is ending. I don’t need any reminders. The narrative is ‘This will go on forever.’ On the record, it can’t. Nothing does, especially in a sport where the competition is so great.”

The Warriors made three more Finals and won two of them since Myers made that statement during the 2017-18 season. But he chose to leave the team this summer. Executives around the NBA speculate he’ll return to run a different front office someday (perhaps the expansion Sonics?), but for now he’s working in sports media, watching from afar as the potential end point he saw coming nears. At 8-10 this season, with multiple double-digit blown leads, Myers may have just been the first to jump off a sinking ship.

The team’s new general manager, Mike Dunleavy Jr., and the Lacob family have a lot of work to do to keep the Warriors in contention. But they still have the guy. Even at age 35, Steph Curry remains a dominant force by averaging 29.7 points with nearly 50-40-90 shooting splits. The issue is that while he remains great, other stars around the league have better support, and the loss to Sacramento put the problems that have been haunting Golden State on full display

Klay Thompson’s transformation from a sharpshooter to a sulking shadow of his former self is painful to watch. He makes too many avoidable mistakes, and he forces shots more than ever. On defense, he can still defend bigger, slower players. But quicker guys roast the 33-year-old, and the former on-ball stopper becoming a slow-footed target is one of the reasons the Warriors are suffering defensively.