Golden State Warriors
With Klay Thompson being out for the second-consecutive season, everybody knew the Warriors’ season would be very shaky, but they could have eased things at the NBA trade deadline this year by unloading either Kelly Oubre Jr. or Andrew Wiggins for another high-level talent to pair with Steph and Draymond.
Ultimately, the Warriors did nothing, which could be beneficial to them in the long-run both cap wise and roster wise with some of the young players they have, but for this season, their playoff hopes are starting to fly away.
Golden State is holding onto the 10-seed in the Western Conference by their fingertips, as they are just a game up on the Kings and 1.5 games up on the Pelicans in the standings. If they do make the play-in game this year as the 9-seed or 10-seed, then the Warriors will likely be a team that does not make it that far if they do win one of these games and make the playoff field in the West.
Stephen Curry has been fantastic this year and has done everything he can to put the Warriors in a winning position, but they just do not have that extra bit of firepower they would have with Klay Thompson.
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If he was healthy, they would probably be a Top-5 team in the Western Conference, but he will not play this season and as a result, it is up to the supporting cast of Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre Jr. and James Wiseman to find a way to get the Warriors in the playoffs.
Not going out and getting one or two key veteran players to aid them in bench scoring could ultimately hurt the Warriors chances to be successful this year. However, with the emergence of last year’s first-round pick in Jordan Poole, as well as rookie James Wiseman starting to play better, there is a lot to be excited about if you are a Warriors fan.
