The Warriors face a daunting offseason, but their NBA Play-In Tournament loss to the Sacramento Kings won’t alter Golden State’s plans this summer, per general manager Mike Dunleavy.
While the Warriors were thoroughly outclassed in Tuesday’s 118-94 loss to the Kings at Golden 1 Center, Dunleavy explained that he felt the defeat to Sacramento was more of an anomaly and not necessarily indicative of where the roster stands heading into the 2024-25 season.
“Yeah, honestly, not a lot. I don’t take that game into consideration too much,” Dunleavy told reporters when asked about Golden State’s play-in loss during his season-ending exit interview Thursday. “That was the worst game we played all year. Give credit to Sacramento, they did a great job, but I watched this team for 82 games. The amount of times that we’ve been ran off the court, very few. I think there were a couple home games in January, obviously the Boston game, where that was a different scenario.
“But that was a game … where you got to be careful of overreacting to how it went. I don’t think that represented our team on the whole for the season. But that being said, it kind of put the stamp on what the reality of this year was. So, here we are, and I would say going into that game, win or lose, no matter how it happened, I knew we had to get better.”
Despite dealing with a myriad of injuries and Draymond Green’s prolonged absence following a pair of suspensions, the 46-36 Warriors still managed to improve on their win total from the 2022-23 season (44-38) when they finished as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, the West was loaded during the 2023-24 campaign, with their 46-36 record — the best win percentage for a No. 10 seed in NBA history — placing them in the precarious position of playing a win-or-go-home game where they ultimately were unceremoniously dispatched by their Northern California rivals.
With the uncertain future of players like Klay Thompson and Chris Paul looming large, Dunleavy and Golden State’s front office have major decisions to make that could rock the foundations of a roster that has the potential to look remarkably different when training camp begins in the fall.
Just don’t expect any rash decisions being made as a result of the Warriors’ brutal season-ending loss.