Warriors Miss 5 All Star Players Amid Their Tribulation This Season.

The Golden State Warriors had dreams of contending for a championship this season, but the franchise is scratching for the final Play-In Tournament berth as the postseason nears. Several players have disappointed and massive changes may be on the horizon as the Dubs attempt to cut their spending. Is this the end of their dynasty?

Stephen Curry is locked in for two more years and is not going anywhere. Draymond Green signed a four-year extension in 2023, but the roster beyond that is uncertain. Klay Thompson is an unrestricted free agent this summer, and there has been no extension. Jonathan Kuminga has locked himself in as part of their core, but the Warriors front office may be forced to explore some unpopular trades.

They yearn to contend for championships. Four titles in a decade will have that impact, and these former players would put them back in the race in 2024. There is no way Golden State could have kept some of them, but fans should never rule out an NBA reunion.

Harrison Barnes

Golden State needs some size and scoring punch on their current roster. They drafted Barnes with the seventh overall pick in 2012, and he was part of their first championship before the Warriors let him walk in free agency in 2016. The Mavericks came in with a massive offer, and the Dubs wanted more playing time for Andre Iguodala. All worked out as they won three more championships as HB blossomed with more shots.

Barnes was headed toward free agency last summer before the Kings swooped in with a three-year $54 million extension to keep him in Sacramento. The 6’8 forward has seen his role decrease a bit this season, but he is still averaging 12.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game while shooting 39.9 percent from 3-point range.

Barnes and Kuminga are both listed at 6’8. The Warriors only have three players taller on their roster and nobody larger than 6’10. They are small and would love to have Barnes’ size, floor spacing, and versatility. Bringing him back would not have been easy, but they could use his skill set.

READ MORE:

Bob Myers Admits The Warriors Never Found Whoever Leaked The Draymond Green Punch Video

In a recent appearance on “The Old Man & The Three,” former Warriors President/GM Bob Myers finally shed some light on what happened to the leaker who caught the Draymond Green and Jordan Poole fight on video for the whole world to see. According to Myers, the Warriors never did find the person responsible, despite their best efforts.

“We couldn’t pinpoint anybody,” said Myers. “We looked, we tried with a third party, but we couldn’t.”

Myers did not provide any more details on how the search went down but it’s unlikely that the perpetrator will ever be found after evading detection for so long. The video, which was released days before the start of the season, put their worst moment on full display and it was an event that derailed their season.

It all started when Jordan Poole shouted an insult toward Steve Kerr before moving his attention to Draymond. He disrespected him in front of everyone, which set Green off and led to violence. By the end of it, Poole was knocked out from a sucker punch by his teammate and things were never the same again.

Poole lost all his confidence that season and the Warriors went on a tailspin with the team chemistry and trust at an all-time low. All the while, the Warriors had to explain the situation to the media after the video leaked and the fans will never let them forget what happened.

As for the leaker, we may never know his true identity — but his impact on the Warriors’ downfall cannot be ignored given everything that has transpired. Had the video never gone public, the Warriors may have been able to keep the whole situation contained and out of public knowledge. Instead, they had to break it up and try something new.

By all accounts, that Draymond punch was a major turning point for the Warriors franchise. Up to that point, they were at the top of the basketball world as NBA champions and had enjoyed unprecedented prosperity in the regular season and playoffs, where they won a title on four separate occasions.

After the punch, and the leak of the video, it’s been nothing but chaos for the team both on and off the court. Internally, the relationship between Green and Poole deteriorated and it went past the point of recovery. In the act of laying out Poole, Draymond lost the trust of his coaches and teammates, leading to a brief hiatus from the team altogether.

On the court, the Warriors have been a shell of themselves in almost every way. They could barely win a road game last season and couldn’t make it past the second round with Curry, Klay, and Draymond healthy.

This campaign hasn’t been much better. Even after trading Poole for level-headed veteran, Chris Paul, the Warriors rank 10th in the West and face an uphill battle to the Finals.

As the story is still being written, nobody can say for sure how or when this ends for the Warriors but the more we see them in modern times, the more it becomes evident that their best days may already be behind them. With their core already on the wrong side of 30, the Warriors’ “big three” probably have a few years left, and then what?

Regardless of the outcome of this postseason, time is undoubtedly running short for the Dubs and this year could be one of their last chances to win another championship with this current cast of characters. It’s just a shame that Draymond’s anger cost the Warriors what should have been their next young star…