All year long, I’ve been higher on the Golden State Warriors chances of success than most people. I thought they’d be one of the best teams in the Western Conference when the year began. When they struggled, I thought they would pull out of it. When they kept struggling, I recognized they probably wouldn’t pull out of it but still thought they could. When they caught fire in February, I thought that was their authentic self. And now as they struggle again, I find myself agreeing with Steve Kerr that they have a big run ahead of them.
And yet, despite my interest and optimism in this year’s team, something else has been equally true. All year long, I’ve been fascinated by the upcoming offseason and next year’s team.
Hall of Fame-bound guards Klay Thompson and Chris Paul will likely be free agents, unless the team surprisingly picks up the latter’s $30 million option. Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody will be entering the final year of their rookie-scale deals, eligible for rookie extensions; their play and their happiness with sporadic minutes from Kerr has been one of the biggest storylines of the past year, ebbing, flowing, flying, and shaking like that wooden roller coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
There are even more storylines than just those, of course, and they’ve all been fascinating to watch unfold; and they’ll continue to be fascinating as this season winds to a close, the offseason arrives and passes, and next year begins.
We shouldn’t turn our eyes too far from the present, but it’s always fun to look towards the future. So I want to address something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: what will next year’s starting five be? It’s a compelling question in part because the Warriors — 65 games into the season — haven’t really answered it for this year. Kerr has started 11 different players this year, with eight of those players having double-digit starts (a figure that could easily be 10 by year’s end). Gary Payton II is the only rotation player who has yet to start this year, and the bulk of the starting lineup alterations have been due to play rather than injury.
I have no clue who will start Saturday when the Dubs face the Los Angeles Lakers, which makes it all the more fun — and, admittedly, fruitless — to try and guess who will start in October. But let’s at least look at the candidates.
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