Fresh after winning the 2022 NBA title, the Golden State Warriors entered this season as the favorites to win it all. With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, and Andrew Wiggins, they certainly have the pieces they need to defend their championship.
But after splitting the first 4 games of the season, the Warriors haven’t looked quite like themselves out of the gate, and many are wondering why.
NBA Analyst Explains What’s Wrong With The Warriors
On SiriusXM NBA Radio, sports analyst and podcaster Bill Simmons gave his take on the Warriors and explained why they have taken a step back from last season.
“They have not looked good to start the season and I’m not sure what to make of it yet. And I know guys have talked about the Draymond punch but it just couldn’t be a worse way to head into the season where you have one of the three leaders of your team punches a guy in the face, kinda out of nowhere I think that’s a weird vibe.”
He also called out Thompson and green, specifically, claiming that they just don’t have the star power they used to.
“The team’s a little different defensively. The Suns, it really got easy for them at different points throughout that game. Then they’ve got that youth/veteran thing where you’ve got two guys — you have Draymond and you have Klay — who are kind of moving into different phases of their career, whether we want to admit it or not. You can’t really call them stars anymore because stars are reliable every single night and I’m not sure those guys are. Are they better than role players? Yeah. But stars are people like Booker, and every night I know that guy is showing up. Everybody can be good when they’re in their 30s. You can be good once a week. But stars have to be good every game and I don’t think Klay and Draymond can get there anymore.”
https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/1585767982650855425
It sounds crazy to say that Draymond Green and Klay Thompson may not be stars anymore, but Simmons might not be too far off with his assessment. The contributions from both players have been steadily declining recently, and neither of them has looked particularly great to start the year.
What does it mean for the Warriors? Only time will tell on that one, but as long as Steph Curry is healthy, they will be competitive in the West.
