5 days ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
It's last call for the Warriors dynasty. Time to drink up the desperation
The bar lights just flicked off and on twice, and you know what that means.
Last call.
Savor the final few sips, gather your jacket and get ready to head out into the bitterly cold night, your soul warmed by the glow of a crazy, happy experience.
How poetic is that? Sorry, got carried away.
The Golden State Warriors see the bar lights flickering. Their dynasty has one more season of potential greatness. Maybe two, if the cosmic bartender fudges in their favor.
This is good. It's rare for teams and their fans to get advance notice that the final days of a dynasty are upon them.
One exception was the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls and their 1997-98 season. Going in, Bulls' general manager Jerry Krause made it known that it would be coach Phil Jackson's last season, and Jordan made it clear he would walk out the door with Jackson, so this was it. The 'Last Dance.'
Most sports dynasties come apart with little or no notice, like your noble but aging automobile, which seemed OK until stuff started falling off in the street.
The San Francisco Giants' Posey-Lincecum-Bumgarner dynasty crumbled quickly, but with no real warning. After the 2014 World Series title, bit by bit, it just went poof. The San Francisco 49ers' glory run of the '80s ended when Steve Young got conked on the head. The aftermath of the Oakland A's great runs left us wondering where the hell everyone went so fast.
Isn't it better to know when your team is about to take its last shot at glory? Gives players and fans a chance to hunker down and really savor the moments, maybe dig a little deeper, knowing what's at stake.
Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green are all signed for this coming season and the season after that. Three seasons hence, the Warriors will not be led into battle by the noble Warriors whose ages will be 39, 38 and 37.
Desperation, celebration, sadness, panic — all those things are on the table.
The cry-in-your-beer crowd has already written off the coming season. They say the Warriors have botched the Jonathan Kuminga situation so badly that '25-'26 is destined to be one long slo-mo train wreck. Besides, building a team around three aging stars, in an increasingly athletic league, is a recipe for ugly.
Kuminga, say the warts of worry, will be an ongoing distraction. But to whom? To Curry, the Human Distraction Deflector?
Kuminga, as long as he's around, will be a soap opera plot-driver, for sure. He recently posted an Instagram photo with a message, 'I'll bet on myself all day.' His agent, Aaron Turner, reposted and added, 'Legends never die.'
Legends?
So, sure, it's getting crazy, along with chippy and personal, and yet: We can be pretty sure that Kuminga is going to play hard. His NBA future is at stake. He can either play his way into, or out of, a giant bag of cash. He knows that in order to get playing time, he will have to play the way the Warriors and head coach Steve Kerr want him to play. Move the ball, get rebounds, play D. He'll at least try to do that, because he wants to play.
Kuminga will be 23 this season. Still developing, learning, maturing. However imperfect a fit he is for the Warriors' system, he can be a lightning bolt, an impactful rotation guy.
Contract-wise, the Kuminga impasse seems to have gummed up the works by putting the Warriors in a holding pattern, preventing them from making other moves.
However, there are solid indications that the Warriors are likely to sign free agents Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton. Melton, 27, was a very useful player for the Warriors last season, however briefly, before he was injured. Horford, although 39, is a center who can battle in the paint and shoot 3s, and he's on the NBA's mythical All-Teammate team.
Smart team. With Curry-Green-Butler, the Warriors will have a new version of the Council of Ancients (Conseil des Anciens), a house in the French legislature of the 1790s equivalent to the U.S. Senate.
Plus! Rumors are strong that the Warriors will sign Seth Curry. Come on, that would add a whole new element of fun to the party. Seth started only 14 games last season, but he led the league in 3-point percentage, 45.6%. Sharpshooter Buddy Hield hit 37%. Seth can inspire and coach his older brother (39.7% last season).
Warriors principal owner Joe Lacob and GM Mike Dunleavy will always have an eye to the future, but they can see the house lights flicking on and off. Forget about 'two timelines' this coming season.
When the Bulls had their Last Dance, it was a good one. The looming inevitability of their breakup, rather than casting a pall, seemed to enhance their sense of urgency.
There is no reason to be sad for the Warriors. This will be the 12th season of their run, 14th if you count the two playoff seasons before Kerr arrived. And, yet, they are not staring rheumy-eyed into the past.
Last call. Order up. Champagne?
