Sports
Warriors Players Under Most Pressure Entering 2023-24 NBA Season – Bleacher Report
The Golden State Warriors will spend the 2023-24 NBA season under the proverbial microscope—as per usual.
With a core that has already delivered four titles and is hoping to add more before it ages out of contention, this team faces as much championship-or-bust potential as anyone.
Still, dig deeper into this roster, and you’ll find a few players feeling that heat more than the rest.
The Warriors gave James Wiseman, the No. 2 pick in 2020, two-plus seasons to prove whether or not he could fit with this nucleus before ultimately discarding him at this past deadline.
If they’re using a similar schedule with Jonathan Kuminga, the No. 7 pick in 2021, that makes this his season to either force his way into a significant role or potentially get traded for someone more capable of helping their championship chances.
While he possesses elite explosiveness and has flashed some high-end shot creation, he hasn’t been a consistent enough contributor to log major minutes (18.8 per outing so far). But the Dubs don’t need scoring from him as much as they need his presence on the defensive end and the glass.
“The No. 1 thing is he’s gotta rebound,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “If he rebounds and he runs the floor, there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for him.”
Golden State could use an injection of youth, speed and athleticism, but it clearly has no interest in giving Kuminga developmental minutes. The Dubs need him to be a reliable player right now. If he can’t answer that challenge this season, he could end it playing elsewhere.
With no championships to show for an otherwise historic career, Chris Paul is on an urgent quest to get his first title and avoid being labeled as one of the league’s greatest ring-less players.
With his 38th birthday behind him, that urgency is only increasing going forward. He’ll likely have less of a say in this group’s title hopes than his past teams (more on this in a second), but if he’s healthy, he’ll play significant role.
Still, he has pushed back at the idea he’s definitely coming off the bench, so it’s fair to wonder about his willingness to work in a support role after spending essentially his entire career in the spotlight. He could be an answer to Golden State’s longstanding problems with its non-Stephen Curry minutes, but is he comfortable as a niche contributor?
Beyond that, Paul carries the pressure of being both the most significant addition to a title-hopeful team that needed to improve this summer, and he still has that $30.8 million salary hanging over his head. Speaking of which, if it’s obvious the Warriors must make bigger changes, Paul seems like a natural money-matcher in a blockbuster trade.
Contract years are always pressure cookers, but the burden on Klay Thompson’s shoulders feels particularly heavy.
He is, pretty clearly, no longer a $43.2 million player, though that’s the rate he’ll pocket this season. But what exactly is he worth now that he’s 33 years old with an ACL tear and ruptured Achilles in his past?
He remains an elite long-range shooter (career-high 4.4 three-pointers per game last season on 41.2 percent shooting), but his inside-the-arc efficiency has taken a notable hit. He shot 51.6 percent on twos in the four seasons leading up to his injury issues, but he’s down to just 47.2 percent in the two seasons since. He also now lacks the ability to pester speed guards the way he did during his prime.
The Dubs need his shooting to help their offense breathe, but they could use more of the other stuff than he supplied last season. It’s possible he’s still forming his post-injury identity, but maybe he’ll just function as something like a shooting specialist in this phase of his career. Golden State’s title odds and Thompson’s future earnings will be greatly impacted by his play this season.