Why the Warriors need to keep Stephen Curry on the shelf and officially embrace the tank
Golden State needs to heed the lesson of the Mavericks and go lottery hunting
The Golden State Warriors have been soft tanking for a while, but they won't tell you that. They definitely didn't start out doing it intentionally, and truth be told, they're probably still not. They're just not a good team, and you don't see them in any hurry to bring Stephen Curry back.
That's not to say Curry's knee issue is in any way manufactured, or even necessarily that they are milking it for every loss they can squeeze. But if the latter is happening anyway, what's the difference? Curry, 38, hasn't played a game since Jan. 30. The Warriors are 6-12 over that span and 8-16 since January 20 with a bottom-10 net offensive and defensive rating.
Everything is an opportunity one way or another. For the Warriors, this is their chance to make this soft tank official and shut Curry down for the rest of the season. He's had genuine setbacks. The injury is legit. ESPN's Anthony Slater already reported that the Warriors are fearful of risking long-term damage to an already "unpredictable" knee.
Of course, Curry is a competitor of the highest order and the company line remains that he's working to get back on the court. That should not happen. Cooler heads must prevail. The Warriors aren't going anywhere this season.
It's not just Curry, by the way. Jimmy Butler tore his ACL two months ago. In Golden State's loss to the Knicks on Sunday, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Kristaps Porziņģis and De'Anthony Melton were all out with various injuries.
"We're going through it," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We're about as beaten up as any team I can ever remember."
In other words, the tank is happening all by itself. Don't try to get in the way by bringing Curry back. For what? To maybe squeak through a couple of Play-In games to get wasted in the first round at the expense of a shot at a high lottery pick?
The Warriors are not stupid. They know they have one last shot to make a run next season. They can trade up to five first-round picks this summer, and the higher their 2026 pick lands, the more its market value increases accordingly.
For clarification, the Warriors would have to make their 2026 pick first, with the understanding that they are doing so for the drafted player to be traded. From there, they could send their 2027, 2029, 3031 and 2033 picks along with whatever young player(s) a team might desire and money filler (even, perhaps, Green or Butler on an expiring deal) if the right trade were to present itself.
That's a lot of ammo. The Warriors can still put a contender around Curry one last time. Next season was always tabbed as the end of this thing. That's why the contracts of Curry, Green, Butler and Kerr all conclude in 2027. It's lined up that way. Beyond next season, the Warriors could look very different.
But next season is the focus. It's a true last shot. Everything needs to be aimed at putting together the very best trade package possible this summer. If they don't use it, or if they only partially use it, that's their decision, and it will be a big one. But they need to have the option.
Sure, they'll have a good package no matter where the 2026 pick lands. But the difference between a lottery pick in a draft like this one and a mid-to-late first-rounder is immense. With the way the lottery odds have been flattened, you don't have to have one of the worst records in the league to end up with a high pick.
Need you be reminded of the 2024 Atlanta Hawks, who landed the No. 1 overall pick with a 3% chance of doing so? What about last year's Dallas Mavericks, who turned a 1.8% roll of the dice into Cooper Flagg? That is Golden State's blueprint. Will they beat the odds to that degree and land the top pick, or even a top-three pick? Probably not. But they need to give themselves the shot. Even if it somehow lands mid-lottery, that would be a major deal.
Like last year's Mavericks, the Warriors (currently 33-35 and occupying the No. 9 spot in the West) are going to make the Play-In Tournament. It's too late to drop below No. 10. The focus needs to be not rising to No. 8 (the Los Angeles Clippers are one game ahead at 34-34), which would force them to lose two Play-In games to miss the playoffs. Stay at No. 9 or 10, and you have two chances to lose one game. Keep Curry out, and it likely happens.
The Mavericks played with fire last season by letting Anthony Davis play in the Play-In Tournament, and he nearly carried them into the playoffs. That would have been catastrophic. They beat the Sacramento Kings in the 9-10 matchup and Davis had 40 points in the second Play-In game against Memphis.
Fortunately, the Mavericks still managed to lose that game. Had that not happened, they would have lost their lottery pick and Flagg would be playing somewhere else. And again, for what? To get plated as a first-round appetizer? Stupid. The Mavericks were lucky as hell they didn't win that game.
The Warriors should be taking no such chance. You can question a lot of the decisions they've made over the last few years, but there are two sides to most of them. There is only one side to this. If they bring Curry back and he gets hot and they somehow make the playoffs and, in turn, forfeit the chance at a high lottery pick that could be the key to unlocking a blockbuster summer, it will be nothing short of foolish. No two ways about it. Completely and utterly foolish.
This season is over. For the Warriors, it's all about next season. That starts this summer and will be largely shaped by what happens over the next month. Curry is going to want to play, just like Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to play for the Milwaukee Bucks, who also need to be aiming their every effort at securing the highest pick possible this summer. Neither Antetokounmpo nor Curry should play again this season.
It's a pretty simple decision, really. Let's see if the Warriors actually make the right one.
