Loss after loss, what is going on with the Golden State Warriors? The Golden State Warriors, a well known team in the National Basketball Association (NBA), have been declining with their performance. In the month of January, the team lost five out of the last nine games with their wins coming against the Orlando Magic (23-21), Detroit Pistons (3-39), Chicago Bulls (21-24), and Atlanta Hawks (18-26). The Warriors dropped to the 12th seed out of 15th seed in the Western Conference. In their game against the Pistons, the Golden State Warriors lost a key member of the team, Chris Paul, with a fractured hand. He is expected to return after 4-6 weeks of recovery. After his 12 game suspension, Draymond Green returned to the game coming off the bench. In his return, Draymond got seven points, seven rebounds, four assists, and four fouls.
The Golden State Warriors also suffered another loss with the death of assistant coach Dejan Milojević. Milojević sustained a heart attack during a team dinner in Salt Lake City. Milojević was a key member of the Warriors’ 2022 NBA championship. He was 46. Their games against the Utah Jazz and Dallas Maverick were postponed due to this incident. During the game against the Atlanta Hawks at San Francisco, the Warriors honored him and took the win. Their next game will be January 25, 2024 against the Sacramento Kings.
During the offseason, the Warriors traded Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, Patrick Baldwin Jr., a 2027 second-round draft pick and, 2030 protected first-round draft pick to the Washington Wizards for Chris Paul. They also re-signed Draymond Green to a four year $100 million deal. Brandin Podziemski was drafted using the first round nineteenth draft pick by the Warriors. The Warriors also hired Mike Dunleavy Jr. as the new general manager. These new adjustments have impacted the Warriors poorly. Since this offseason, the Warriors have won 45 percent of their games so far. Last season, the Warriors won 53.7 percent of their games.
When asked the question, “What do you think is going on with the Warriors this season and how should they improve?” Vishaan Nandiraju, a seventh grader, who is a big fan of the Golden State Warriors, states, “The Warriors are relying too much on Steph Curry and need to trade for another all-star to decrease the pressure off him.” He also adds, “One problem with the Warriors is they have no cap space [the ceiling that sets a limit on how much teams can spend on their players during a season]. If we get rid of Dario Šarić, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul and Andrew Wiggins who take up close to 100 million dollars, we would have enough cap space to sign an all-star. Then we would have to get 1 or 2 role players like a point guard and a system player that plays good defense, and the [Golden State Warriors] problems will be fixed.”
The Warriors performance is still a question. What is going on with them this season? Will they ever get a chance to redeem themselves in this slump?
