The Golden State Warriors were the team to beat in the league over the past 5 years or so. This season, however, things took a major downfall following Kevin Durant’s departure and Klay Thompson’s injury.
The Warriors struggled to compete as they also lost Stephen Curry to a hand injury early in the season but they’ll be back at full strength as one of the biggest threats in the Western Conference next season.
That’s’ why the team is going to start monitoring and managing Curry’s load for the 2020-21 campaign, according to his coach Steve Kerr:
“Now, (Steph Curry’s) at the point where he’s been at the peak of his powers for the last couple of years. If anything, it’s on us to try to begin to manage his minutes. We’ve always been really blessed. We’ve been able to do that because of the talent on our team. We’ve never really run Steph into the ground. We don’t have as much depth as we once did. It’s on us as a coaching staff to make sure we get him his rest every night, and we’re not wearing him out,” Kerr told David Aldridge of The Athletic.
Curry averages 34.3 minutes per game over his career and he’s had plenty of time to rest in fourth quarters during Kerr’s tenure at the bay. Still, they’re not the same offensive juggernaut they used to be in the past so it’s likely that they’ll have to lean on Curry even more next year.
With that in mind, it’ll be interesting to see whether the Warriors decide that he’ll have to sit out on back-to-back games and go through a load management scheme similar to Kawhi Leonard’s. At the end of the day, it’s all about getting him ready to perform at the highest level in the playoffs.
