How the Warriors lost their way this season

SACRAMENTO — Any season can be defined by its moments, the everlasting split-seconds burned into memories.

For the Warriors — the historically expensive club desperate to lay more tracks for its dynastic train — too many of those moments were self-inflicted damage.

Draymond Green saw red too many times — a headlock here, a flail there — costing him a quarter of the season. Game-winning prayers from Nikola Jokic and Malik Monk rattled in instead of out, putting the Warriors on the wrong side of the blown-lead ledger. They stuck with their starting lineup from last year too long, and didn’t add or subtract at the deadline.

And so, their season ended on April 16 in Sacramento. The next morning, they cleaned out their lockers at the Chase Center. Viewed through the prism of wringing out the most of every last great Steph Curry season, this year was squandered. Too many dark moments eclipsed those of promise.

“At the end of the day, I just want to win,” Curry said in Sacramento. “I know that’s fully possible. I know this summer’s going to be a lot of conversations, trying to set up ourselves to win — whatever that means. I hope that’s the outcome.”

The Warriors went 10-11 in games Green missed due to suspension. At the podium after the Warriors’ season ended in Sacramento, Green said he could count off the top of his head at least six losses off the top of his head the Warriors “gave away.”

Collapsing and letting winnable games slip away was an issue with or without Green. They blew a 24-point lead in the in-season tournament to Sacramento. They choked away an 18-point lead late against Denver. They failed to close out the Thunder twice in overtime.

Steve Kerr constantly tinkered with his starting lineup and rotation, seeking combinations that work. Not enough shooting with this frontcourt, too light on the boards with that one, can’t hold up defensively with the three guards. The Warriors’ roster had depth, but it was flawed. They never had a reliable secondary scorer next to Curry.

A common denominator: The Warriors consistently lost to contending teams. Against the six Western Conference teams to clinch playoff berths before the play-in, Golden State won just four of 23 games.

There were positive signs, of course. Despite finishing 10th in the loaded Western Conference, the Warriors won more games than they did last year. They won 10 of their last 12 games, tearing through a difficult road schedule, and never wavered from their belief that they could beat anyone in any high-leverage situation. With Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, Mike Dunleavy Jr. aced his first draft.

It just wasn’t enough to avoid a premature, unceremonious end to the season. Curry, Green and Klay Thompson were mostly healthy all year, and the Warriors still missed the playoffs.

Ahead of the trade deadline, the Warriors were floundering at 23-25. Curry, in a rare personnel-related admission, said that changes were necessary. “That’s the definition of insanity, right? Keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result.”

To their credit, Golden State made adjustments. The Warriors went small, with Draymond Green starting at center. They brought Thompson off the bench for the first time in his career. Jackson-Davis joined Green in the starting frontcourt, fortifying their defense and solidifying their rotation.

Kerr let Jonathan Kuminga play through more mistakes and trusted the rookies to contribute. Golden State went 22-11 to finish the year and, by virtue of a strong West, became the winningest team to ever finish 10th in a conference.

But the Warriors — winners of four championships in the past decade — don’t hang banners for play-in seasons. And even when they were rolling, there were hints the Warriors were never really in the NBA’s upper class. They went 22-31 against teams with winning records and 24-5 against everyone else. They beat up on the bottom-feeders and got outclassed by the true contenders.

Optimizing every season as long as the 36-year-old Curry remains one of the best players in the games should be the annual goal. This season, despite progress, they failed to squeeze out another postseason run.

“This is life,” Kerr said after his team was eliminated. “This is how it works. You don’t get to stay on top forever.”

They lost in the moments, and the moments became the aggregate. Now they face another crossroads in Klay Thompson’s free agency. Kerr, Curry and Green are under contract through 2026, but could they drop the other pillar of the dynasty? They need to get more athletic, better, and cheaper. Thompson might not check enough of those boxes.

“I could never see myself not with those two guys,” Curry said of Thompson and Green.

But despite a better record than last year, they slipped from sixth to 10th place, and it won’t get easier. Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will only improve. Memphis will get a healthy Ja Morant next year. The Nuggets, Timberwolves and Mavericks aren’t going anywhere.

As Green said, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.

Everything should be on the table for the Warriors. Curry’s contract and age give them a three-year window to assemble a championship-caliber roster around him — with every succeeding year becoming more difficult than the past. He’s still elite, and the Warriors will never have another player like him.

They can’t afford to waste another of his last great seasons – and that pursuit of another title might cost them their dynastic core.

“I understand this league changes and there’s so many things that go into it, and we’re not going to play forever,” Curry said. “But we’ve experienced so much together. At the end of the day, again, I know they want to win, I want to win — that’s all I’m worried about.”