The Warriors’ lack of cohesion and identity doomed their season as they stumble out of playoff contention

The struggles and concerns all culminated in a blowout defeat in the play-in.

One of the things that stood out this season for the Golden State Warriors was the constant search for something that just *worked*.

Any team looking to contend for a title — or at the very least, looking to become a serious playoff team — has to bring something to the table. That takes the form of an identity rooted upon stability and consistency. In all of the years the Warriors have won their four championships, they knew who they were: a team that moves the ball, moves its players, and takes an egalitarian approach in order to boost the dominance of its best players.

That requires a couple of things: having a coaching staff that dictates the culture, having stars and veterans who accept the culture and set the tone for the rest of the roster, and — arguably the most important one — having the correct personnel to make that culture on the court an astounding success.

All of the above were present in 2015, 2016 (despite the blown 3-1 lead), 2017, 2018, and — against all odds — allowed the Warriors to succeed in 2022 and what empowered Steph Curry to do most of the legwork in their Finals win over the Boston Celtics.

Two years later and the story of the Warriors’ 2024 season is the complete opposite of the formula that took them to the top. There was no consistent stretch of any lineup, rotation, or identity they could bank on for long stretches. Injuries/suspensions played a part in that. Mistakes were made along the way (across the board: coaching staff, players, front office, etc.).

There’s no denying that the coaching staff led by Steve Kerr has seen better days. Even the most ardent Kerr defender or impartial viewer can see the stumbles and falls in terms of rotation decisions, lineups, and on-court tactical decisions. The Warriors had trouble playing the way they wanted to on offense, and the numbers supported that theory despite a healthy Curry season in which he played 74 regular season games — the most since the 2016-17 season (79 games).

They finished the season 10th in offensive rating (117.8) in non-garbage time, which feels like an underachievement given that they have one of the most potent offensive forces on the roster. But even while Curry can still move mountains as the focal point of the offense, he still needs to be supported offensively — which is true of all great players in the past, present, and future.

Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson were supposed to be Curry’s offensive support — but an uneven start to the season by both hamstrung the Warriors from the gates. Even with Thompson regaining his form after the All-Star Break (19.4 points on 46/42/95 shooting splits in 28 games since February 15), he regressed at the worst possible moment against the Sacramento Kings, in which he failed to score a single point (0-of-10 from the field, 0-of-6 on threes). He now goes into an offseason of uncertainty, both in terms of the financial compensation he will get and whether he can truly be an impactful player at the role he wants to play.

Due to a variety of factors that we as outside observers as privy to and also those we aren’t (and don’t have a right to be), Wiggins had a season to forget. There were moments where he showed flashes of the 2022 All-Star form he was in, an impactful defender who could excel in the margins: as a rebounder, cutter, second or third scoring option, and as a play finisher off of the advantages Curry and Thompson generated.

But it’s tough to ignore the negative metrics he had this season: the Warriors were outscored by a total of 58 points in the regular season in Wiggins’ minutes. Filtering out low-leverage minutes, the Warriors were outscored on a per-100 possession basis (minus-0.69, per PBP Stats) with Wiggins on the floor; with him on the bench, they outscored opponents (plus-6.39).

For a team that has historically banked on the two-way value of its wings, having Wiggins and Thompson be subpar for significant stretches of the season was costly — and may inform their decision-making in the offseason.

Let’s not forget about probably the second most crippling occurrence: Draymond Green missing a combined 21 games due to suspension.

For a player who has a credible argument for being a keystone of the roster — him playing that role on defense and Curry being his counterpart on offense — he made sure to become a key contributor to the foundation falling apart this season. At his best and most behaved, Green is still the heartbeat of a team whose versatility on defense and intelligence on offense made their world go round.

But at his worst, it can be highly detrimental and debilitating. Green’s highs as a player has been when he wreaks havoc upon opponents; his lows have been when he wreaks havoc upon his own team.

The uneven play, the suspensions, and the injuries have all contributed to a season that saw the Warriors play 27 different starting lineups this season — a testament to their lack of continuity. Their most played five-man lineup (Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Green) played a total of 232 minutes; for reference, the Denver Nuggets’ most played five-man lineup happened to be their main starters (Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokić), who tallied a total of 958 minutes. The Nuggets played a total of 14 different starting lineups, which is a mark of their consistency and identity.

If the Warriors want to be relevant again, they have to remedy the things that didn’t allow them to have an identity this season — which means the front office has some work to do.

There’s no better way to describe the Warriors’ tax situation as problematic and possibly limiting. But there’s also no denying that having the spending bill they had this season and being booted out of the playoffs being the outcome is a serious problem. Their search for an identity also extends to the front office and ownership: what kind of team do you want to be moving forward? A rebuilding one? A team that wants to keep being playoff contenders?

If they want to be the former, there will be a serious reckoning. But at the very least, it’s a defined path with a defined goal, without the wishy-washiness of the two-timelines experiment. If they want to be the latter, they’ll also have to lean into that, as well — and that starts with putting the requisite support Curry and Green need in order to be the best version of themselves (e.g., the presence of bona fide support scorers to relieve Curry of the scoring burden and more versatile defenders to help Green maximize their half-court defense).

Those are the questions the Warriors need to answer heading into what will be an offseason of hard decisions. But those are the ones they’ll have to make, no matter which direction they want to take.