This is the End. The Warriors Dynasty is Officially Over.

I apologize that I have not been writing as much, I was under the weather this week. But, it allowed to watch an insane amount of NBA games. A lot of things I could write about but this article is going to be a fair reaction to the recent play of the Golden State Warriors. This is a depressing team to watch, despite the rookies trying to bring energy each game, the Warriors are broken. Steph and Klay are going through the motions, Wiggins has been awful this year, Looney looks lost, and Kuminga and Moody seem disgruntled. Can this be fixed this season? I am not sure but the press conference after last nights ass-whooping seemed that a move must be made as soon as possible.

The beginning of the end of the Warriors had to be when Draymond Green rocked Jordan Poole in the face before the beginning of the 2022-23 season. After winning an NBA Championship, vibes were high in San Francisco. Steph Curry cemented himself as a top 10 player of all time, Draymond added to his Hall of Fame resume, and Wiggins and Poole established themselves as star players in the NBA. Once the punch happened, the vibe of the team was never the same. After an underwhelming second round exit for the Champs, they made a big splash in the offseason trading Poole for Chris Paul.

I know the context for the Warriors was not needed but this is when it went really south for the Dubs. The season spiraled early due to Draymond not being able to control himself and getting suspended for putting Gobert in a headlock and swinging on Jusuf Nurkic. The Warriors also only have one big man on their roster in Kevon Looney and was using Dario Saric as the backup Center. The entire NBA is getting bigger. If you look at the top three teams in the West right now, Minnesota, OKC, and Denver, all of their lineups feature at least three guys over 6’8. The Warriors for whatever reason did the opposite and tried to have a lineup with Steph, Klay, Cp3, Wiggins, and Looney. It does not work, too small, too slow, too old.

The Warriors offense is also outdated. Kerr changed basketball when he first joined the Warriors. With his unseen offensive sets and the two best shooters of all time, the Warriors were years ahead of the playing field. Unfortunately, teams have caught up to the Warriors system. Stephen Curry is 35 years old and is still running off screens like he is Duncan Robinson. Kerr refuses to add a simple pick and roll with the best point guard of all time into the offense. Kerr said earlier this week “We’re not just gonna run a high pick-and-roll and spread the floor and he’s gonna dribble 700 times, that’s not his game. He has to thrive off the ball just as well as he does on the ball.” No one is asking the Warriors to run a Steph PNR every play of the game but he is one of the best scorers of all time and has been struggling recently. You would think they would try to get him easy buckets with a pick and roll with the athletic young guys in Trace Jackson-Davis and Jonathan Kuminga.

The worst part about this Steph struggle is he seems mentally checked out. When I became enamored with Steph and the Warriors in 2013, it was because of the amount of fun Steph had while playing the game. He always had a smile on his face and now it seems the energy is completely sucked out of him. He has stuck by his guys he won with from the start but last night seem like something in his mind clicked that something needs to change. Steph said after the blowout loss to the Pelicans last night “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” He also understands the booing and losing is taking a toll on Steph, who is playing the worst stretch of basketball in over 10 years.

Another reason that Steph could be struggling is he is getting no help around him. The two former all-stars around Steph are Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins. Klay is having his worst season of his career, averaging the least amount of points and lowest shooting percentage since his sophomore year in the NBA. Coming off two major injuries is not easy and the fact that he can still average 17 in the league is impressive but his shot selection and shot making is not where it needs to be and is negatively impacting the team. Kerr has refused to give him less minutes for Moses Moody, who has seized every opportunity he has gotten. The worst part about the downfall of Klay is he doesn’t seem to care at all. Considering he said last night “I don’t care. You supposed to lose sleep over it?” I do not see a situation where he turns it around. Andrew Wiggins has been an absolute shell of himself in the 2022 NBA Finals. Wiggins is having by far the worst year of his career averaging 11.7 points per game. Even though he was labeled as a bust and never lived up to the hype of a number one draft pick, he is a career 20 point per game scorer. Whatever happened with his wife last year has destroyed Wiggins confidence. Between Wiggy and Klay, Steph is not getting any help from these former All-Stars.

So what is next for the Warriors? Falling three games below .500 and Steph hinting that they need to make a move, something big will happen. The Warriors are interested in Pascal Siakam and Dejounte Murray but I don’t see the fit for either. I like Murray better since he can create offense but doesn’t seem like the difference maker needed to lead Golden State to the playoffs. If this is the end of the dynasty and Klay is traded, it is a sad way to go out. I guess no dynasty ends perfectly but their basketball is borderline unwatchable. I want them to blow up the team, build around Steph, let Kenny Atkinson take over for Kerr and make a playoff push. As of now, everyone but Steph is available for a trade but it might be too late to save this team. I hope Steph can return to finding the joy in basketball but as of now the Dynasty seems to be over.