The NBA season tips off this Tuesday, Oct. 24. There’s a lot of talk about the Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns being top contenders.
But none of those teams have won four of the last nine NBA Finals. That would be the Golden State Warriors, led by superstar Stephen Curry.
Curry is still playing elite basketball, is the world’s best shooter, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Last week in a preseason game against the Kings, he scored 30 points in 31 minutes on 10-for-18 shooting, including 8-12 from three.
He scored 16 in the fourth quarter, including the game-winner. It was a meaningless preseason game, but it showed The Chef was already in midseason form.
Curry In Exclusive Company
If Curry can lead the Warriors to another title, their fifth in 10 seasons, he will join a very exclusive club.
The list of players with five titles, two MVPs, and two Finals MVPs in NBA history is very short.
Perhaps you’ve heard of these men; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Tim Duncan.
These are the best of the best. All four are top 10 all-time players, three of the four are top 5 and two can make the case for GOAT.
If Curry joins that club this season, is he top-5 all-time?
Is Steph Curry Top 10 All-Time?
The Warriors have a starting five that is more than capable of winning a championship, as they’ve done it before. Last season the starting lineup of Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney was No. 1 in the NBA in net rating.
That means of all starting units, they were the best. They were +21.9. An astounding number.
In order to win the title this season they will need good injury luck. The core of their starting five (Curry, Thompson, and Green) are 33 years old and older and have missed time over the past three seasons due to injury.
They will most likely begin the season without Green as he deals with an ankle sprain. It won’t keep him out too long, but it bears watching.
Wiggins will need to take a step up. Being an overqualified third star has suited him well with the Warriors. But if he can elevate to a perennial All-Star caliber player, watch out.
Will The Dubs Miss Jordan Poole?
The team’s starters are good, but what about their depth? They dealt Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards, and while it’s easy to make fun of Poole for getting knocked out by Green last season and being a turnstile defensively, the young man can shoot and is an excellent offensive player. He was instrumental in helping the team win a title in 2022.
Last regular season Poole played a team-high 2,459 minutes. He was the only Warrior to play more than 60 percent of the team’s minutes. They have to replace that somewhere.
Yes, the Warriors got the “Point God” Chris Paul in the trade for Poole. But playing Paul 2,459 regular season minutes is not a recipe for postseason success. His body is wearing down, and at 38 and barely 6 feet that’s a bad combination. No longer elite, he’s still good and best saved for the playoffs.
That means third-year pro Jonathan Kuminga must step up and be a plus player on both ends of the floor. At 21 years old, 6 feet 7 with ridiculous athleticism, he provides something the Warriors are in short supply of. Uber athletic wings. Imagine a scenario where Wiggins and Kuminga are playing lockdown defense on the league’s apex predator wing scorers?
But it all starts with Curry. He only played in 56 regular season games last year, but he was All-NBA second team. He’ll need 65 if he wants to make a 10th All-NBA selection.
It’s safe to assume he will play at the same level and if he does and all the other things go right, he will win his fifth title and help Paul win his first. Cementing an already impressive legacy.
