Previewing The 2024-25 Golden State Warriors
September 13th, 2024
by Alan Lu
Two years ago, the Golden State Warriors were back on top of the NBA world, miraculously as it seemed, when they defeated the Boston Celtics to win the 2022 NBA championship, and had a memorable playoff run from legendary sharpshooting point guard, Stephen Curry. That was when Bob Myers was still their GM (he has since left them), and when Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole were all making contributions to their team under head coach Steve Kerr and playing harmonious, team-oriented basketball.
A lot has changed in the NBA landscape in two years. Prior to the 2023 season, Draymond punched Jordan Poole, and it led to a fallout in which the Warriors traded Poole prior to the start of the 2024 season. Andrew Wiggins has missed considerable time over the past two seasons, and Klay Thompson went 0 for 10 in a play-in tournament game in which the Warriors shockingly missed the playoffs in 2024. To make matters worse, Klay Thompson left the Warriors, and Chris Paul is no longer with them either, and the Warriors have had to retool for the upcoming season.
This season though, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr return, and after Curry and Kerr helped Team USA win the Gold Medal in the 2024 Olympics with Curry having an unforgettable performance against France in the gold medal game, the Warriors will look to carry that positive momentum to help them try to make the playoffs in 2025.
The Warriors lost Klay Thompson in the offseason, but Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr coming back will likely allow them to make it to the playoffs in 2025, and they’ll need their defensive ace, Draymond Green to stay out of trouble. (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press, via San Francisco Chronicle)
Star Players:
Stephen Curry is a tremendously skilled, sharpshooting point guard that is currently one of the best players in the NBA. He can do it all on offense, and he is a superstar that makes everyone else around him better.
Additions:
G Buddy Hield, G De’Anthony Melton, F Kyle Anderson, and G-F Lindy Waters III
The Warriors added a slew of solid veteran role players to help bolster their bench, especially after they lost Klay Thompson and Chris Paul in the offseason. Hield is a sharpshooter that can score the basketball, Melton and Anderson will add playmaking, some versatility, and defense. Waters is another sharpshooter that could end up in the Warriors’ rotation this season.
Subtractions:
G-F Klay Thompson, G Chris Paul, F Dario Saric, F-C Usman Garuba, and G-F Lester Quinones
Losing Klay Thompson will hurt the Warriors significantly, and it’s not just this season, but the impact he brought to the Bay Area, as he was a legendary sharpshooter that brought strong all-around skills and a great feel for the game when healthy. Losing Chris Paul and Dario Saric also will hurt their team, as they were key players on the 2024 Warriors’ team.
Rookies:
G-F Daeqwon Plowden and F Jackson Rowe
Plowden is an athletic, strong swingman that played very well in the Las Vegas Summer League, and Rowe also played well at that event. Both of the players project to be 3 and D role players in the NBA.
Expected Rotation:
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Stephen Curry will lead a very talented group of starters for the Golden State Warriors heading into the 2023-24 NBA season. (Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images, via SB Nation’s Golden State of Mind)
The Warriors have an experienced, battle-tested starting lineup that is known to be one of the best in the NBA when healthy. Curry and Klay Thompson are the splash brothers that have been two of the league’s best for awhile, and Draymond Green is a point forward that is also an outstanding defender. Kevon Looney has excelled in his role, and will bring rim protection to his team. Andrew Wiggins is a wildcard type of player that was really good in the 2022 playoffs, and he is a very athletic forward that can score and is a very good defender. The Warriors have battled with injuries and some of their starters are coming off relatively down seasons, but their group of starters have been known to be very good for quite a while now.
Projected Starting Lineup:
Key Bench Players:
Buddy Hield is a sharpshooting combo guard that will give the Warriors a great boost off the bench, and he could contend for the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2025.
(Photo: Matt Kryger/Indiana Pacers and Pacers Sports & Entertainment, via NBA.com)
The Warriors boast having a deep bench, where they have a lot of experienced, veteran role players that will provide scoring and defense, and they also have Kevon Looney that can be the defensive anchor for their team.
The Rest of the Roster:
G-F Moses Moody
G-F Lindy Waters III
G-F Gui Santos
G Reece Beekman (Two-Way)
G-F Daeqwon Plowden (Two-Way)
G Pat Spencer (Two-Way)
Others in Camp:
F Jackson Rowe (Exhibit 10)
Team Options at the End of the 2025 Season:
Here I will project the likelihood of the Golden State Warriors to pick up and accept or decline the team options for various players at the end of the 2025 season.
Brandin Podziemski – Team Option Will Likely Be Accepted (100% Certainty)
Gui Santos – 50/50, Leaning Towards That It Will Be Accepted (50%-60% Certainty)
Head Coach:
The Golden State Warriors’ legendary coach, Steve Kerr helped win Team USA the gold medal, and he will look to try to get his fifth title as an NBA head coach. He’s won five NBA titles as a player, and four titles as a coach. (Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images, via Business Insider)
Steve Kerr
2023-24 (GSW): 46-36, missed the playoffs
Coaching Career: 519-274, 99-41 in the NBA Playoffs, won 4 NBA titles as a head coach
Historically, Steve Kerr is one of the greatest coaches of all-time, and no down season will ever take away from that. He’s won 4 NBA titles in his first 10 seasons as a head coach, has overseen great players under his watch, and he’s helped Stephen Curry blossom into being one of the greatest players in NBA history. Kerr has put forth a tremendous, nuanced motion offense, and his teams have also defended well, with Draymond Green and Kevon Looney serving as the backbone of the defenses.
However, the Warriors were disappointing last year, as they lost in the play-in tournament and missed the playoffs in 2024. Some of this though was due to the very competitive Western Conference, and also partly due to the players on his team aging and hitting the decline stage last year, and Draymond Green ended up getting into multiple incidents that led him to miss a handful of games, which helped put Golden State in that predicament. This time around, losing Klay will be a blow for Golden State, but as long as they have Curry and Kerr, the Warriors will be in the hunt for the playoffs and could even be a darkhorse title contender for 2025.
NBA Head Coach Rank: 5
Outlook:
The Warriors are calling it night-night on their 2024 season, and they hope to make it to the playoffs in 2025. (Photo: Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via Sports Illustrated)
In 2022, the Golden State Warriors had a magical run to win the NBA championship, and after they had won their fourth title in eight years, it seemed as if the Warriors’ dynasty would seemingly continue forever.
However, their past two seasons have ended in relative disappointments, and the 2024 Warriors surprisingly missed the playoffs after losing to Sacramento in the play-in tournament. They’ve struggled to advance in the very deep and competitive Western Conference, and their veterans have aged and shown signs of decline recently, and it didn’t help that their mercurial star point forward Draymond Green had a penchant for getting into incidents and antics that would get him suspended.
This season, they’ll rely on the continued improvement of Brandin Podziemski, and they also added veterans in Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson, and Lindy Waters III to help retool their roster, but they lost Klay Thompson and Chris Paul in the offseason. On the plus side, Stephen Curry had a tremendous offseason, as he had a memorable performance against France in the Gold Medal game to get Team USA the gold medal, and he and LeBron were the superstars of the summer. The way Curry has been playing, it seems almost inevitable that the Warriors and Lakers should make it to the playoffs in 2025, but the question will be how far can the Warriors go in the postseason, especially without Klay Thompson around this time around.
Projected 2024-25 Finish:
Expected Win-Loss Record: 46-36
Projected Regular Season Finish: 8th in the Western Conference
Expected Playoff Finish: Projected to lose in the 1st Round
Preseason NBA Power Ranking: 13
I went to Basketball-Reference and SalarySwish to look up some information for this write-up. It will be an exciting basketball season this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing the in-season tournament to see how that will unfold. Anyways, that is my write-up on my preview of the 2024-25 Golden State Warriors. Thanks for reading.