Evaluating the Warriors As Legit Contenders
It feels like it’s been forever since July, but the Warriors offseason finally has the motion we’ve all been waiting for.
With Jonathan Kuminga inking a new 2-year, $48.5 million contract, Golden State took the opportunity to make good on summer-long promises to improve the roster, signing a platoon of fresh players both familiar and new to add depth and versatility to a team that sorely needed it. The late addition of Jimmy Butler last season propelled the Warriors to a 23-7 finishing record, improving in key areas such as fielding the league’s #1 overall defense in that stretch and leaping their free throw rate from the bottom three in the league to #2, and gave the front office all the motivation it needed to build on.
The makings of a good team with just Butler brought to the fold were flashed in the playoffs, ultimately defeated by injuries that many are convinced prevented another trip to the Western Conference Finals, and possibly for a rematch in the championship game against Boston. Add Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, and Seth Curry to that roster, and the Warriors look like they could not just be legit contenders, but serious ones too.
We’ll start with the new guys. The team’s depth last year, if you could really call it that, was marked by some inconsistent performers and players who, frankly, wouldn’t have seen as much time on the floor on most other NBA rosters. While the team did put together some very solid games, their skillsets were not expansive enough to cover for when Stephen Curry went to the bench prior to Butler’s arrival, and the amount of close games the team fell into had a tendency to reflect that. Contenders need players with variable skillsets to maintain a dynamic approach to the game, which was a problem the Dubs suffered all year and something that ultimately cost them against Minnesota.
Mike Dunleavy Jr. and company fixed that problem with the guys they brought in. Melton, a 6-game Warrior last season before suffering a season-ending injury that ended up sending him to sit out the rest of the year in Brooklyn, returns to a team that’s happy to have him back: The rangy guard’s got a great shot and has been a vaunted defender so far in his NBA career with the versatility to shoot either moving or from a standstill off the ball, or even drive the lane to take advantage of closeouts. His spacing and defense make it a distinct possibility he can take that starting 2-guard spot next to Curry, moving Buddy Hield to the bench to give them a bit of a scoring punch and to shore up the starting lineup’s shaky point-of-attack defense.
Similarly, Horford’s capabilities on both ends of the floor are clear: He brings spacing to the center position that Golden State has never had outside of Quinten Post (who was a rookie), on top of the ability to help Draymond anchor the defense with his championship experience. The biggest benefit is that, even in his older age, he’s a durable player: The last time Horford played less than 60 games was 2021, and he’s posted consistent games played totals while going over 25 minutes a night in each season after. Post proved to be good enough to give the 5 some consistent minutes in spot games late last season, meaning Big Al won’t have to carry the entire load (especially given that the Warriors can go small and play Green there as they have done in the past) himself even if he’s capable of it. This will let him remain fresh as the season goes on, and in turn keep Draymond fresh and out of having to battle against much bigger guys every night.
Both Horford and Melton bring objectively strong two-way play and much-needed spacing, with both being the kind of needed players that can do multiple things on the court at once on top of that. And just in case the team feels like they need even more sharpshooting, there’ll be minutes for Seth Curry to step in and light it up. The younger Curry brother is certainly no slouch of a shooter himself, canning an incredible 45% of his triples last year on 3 takes a game, but he does something else on offense that has the ability to help the Warriors: He’s a sneaky-capable secondary playmaker. Curry is savvy on the court, as he’s been in the league for 11 years and has played in a lot of different offenses; While he won’t bring the ball up and create off the bounce necessarily, he’s a witty passer who takes care of the ball and can take advantage of defenses stretching to cover his sound perimeter game by making the extra passes to the open man, something which offsets his lacking ability as a defender in the limited minutes he’ll likely play.
These additions to not just the whole roster, but presumably the starting lineup give the Warriors a lot of room to be more creative in how they play. Steve Kerr’s system of course works, but new players with these skillsets empower him to show off his coaching aptitude in ways that he just hasn’t been able to the last few years. The additional troops with veteran know-how and versatility give the Dubs an avenue for smarter basketball, something that’s been a hallmark of teams that have not just been to the Finals, but won it in a league at an all-time competitive peak, and something the Warriors had a penchant to not do in 2024-2025’s lower points. Players like Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody have the potential to wreak havoc on opposing bench units if they’re able to find consistency, something they’ve shown is possible in their young careers.
It’s impossible to not talk about the Warriors as contenders, however, and just gloss over the impacts of Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry. Having a duo of guys who can take over games is practically a requirement for a team with championship dreams these days. Butler and Curry proved not only that they both can still do that, but that they can do it to a higher degree than a lot of guys in the league despite their tenures. Their skillsets complement each other well, and as highly-intelligent players, they can dictate and execute the necessary adjustments to beat teams that are bad matchups on paper.
With championship experience across the roster, the coaching to put it in the best positions to possibly win, and two leaders both on and off-court heading the charge, the Warriors are poised to make the run that there were whispers they could have made late last year. Jimmy Butler’s presence takes a lot off of Steph Curry’s shoulders, and gives him more breathing room to not have to do the spectacular as much as he did the last few years, in turn making it even more potent when he does catch fire. While the Kuminga contract situation has soured a lot of people on him, he’s still a capable player, and this newfound spacing might even benefit his fantastic rim pressure skillset across a variety of lineups… if he’s willing to buy in. If not, he’s on a team-beneficial contract and may get the opportunity to thrive with a different club come mid-January, giving the team a chance to potentially bring in a guy who’s a better fit to contend while letting him find his potential without the pressure of hunting for a championship.
A full season of Butler with this lineup has some very high potential, with the above and more giving credence to the idea that the Warriors are once again serious contenders. Questions about age and injury status will be asked all through the season, but in the race against Father Time for a 5th championship in the Curry Era, this season looks to be one where that window is still nice and open.
(Photo credit: Stacy Revere // Getty Images)