Has Time Run Out on Warriors Dynasty?

Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson have been teammates since 2012-13.

They made it to the Finals in each of the last six postseasons in which all three were healthy. And they won four of those championships.

The San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper are the only trios in league history with more playoff wins.

All told, prior to Friday's season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Golden State Warriors had outscored opponents by 3,935 points in the 12,783 regular and postseason minutes all three future Hall of Famers were on the floor.

And as they walked off the court after a 122-101 pummeling by LeBron James and the Lakers, it felt like there was a chance we might have seen the end of this dynasty.

"This team ultimately…maxed out," coach Steve Kerr told reporters after the game. "This is not a championship team. If we were, we would be moving on."

He's clearly talking about this specific 2022-23 version of the Golden State Warriors, but it's not hard to extend the sentiment to the organization generally.

With an exorbitantly priced roster heading into this season that cost Golden State nearly $400 million in salary and luxury-tax payments, the Warriors had to move on from key reserves on last season's championship team.

Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton II (who was later reacquired in a trade) and Nemanja Bjelica were out, with the hopes that younger talent like James Wiseman (gone in the Payton trade), Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Jordan Poole could pick up the slack.

That gamble failed. And it failed in rather spectacular fashion.

In 2021-22, the aforementioned veterans combined for 12.4 wins over replacement player (value over replacement player times 2.7). Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody and Poole combined for 0.3 in 2022-23.

Kuminga barely saw the floor this postseason. Poole was benched after 10 minutes of Game 4 against L.A. Wiseman is now a Detroit Piston.

For a team that's been in the business of winning championships for nearly a decade, and whose star players are all in their 30s (one of whom has suffered both a torn ACL and a ruptured Achilles), a robust supporting cast was critical.

The Warriors didn't have that this season. It was abundantly clear for the bulk of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Lakers.

After scoring 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting in Golden State's Game 2 win, Klay's jump shot completely abandoned him. Over the last four games of the six-game series, he averaged 10.5 points on 14.0 field-goal attempts. He shot 20.0 percent on twos and 27.8 percent on threes.

By Game 6, when he went 1-of-7 from two-point range and 2-of-12 from three, every shot felt futile. After years of knowing that every Klay slump would end, this one just didn't.

Draymond had his moments in the series, but his inability to score has become thoroughly schemable for opposing defenses. And he's not the small-ball cheat code he once was, either. Anthony Davis dominated him (and Kevon Looney) to the tune of 21.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.

For the series, Draymond was a team-worst minus-43, and no one else was close. JaMychal Green had the second-lowest mark at minus-16.

And without last season's championship-level supporting cast and Thompson and Green clearly on the decline, it often felt like Curry was on an island.

As good as he is, in today's NBA, one superstar isn't enough. With L.A. able to key much of its defensive attention to and strategy around stopping Curry, he averaged 26.7 points on 23.2 shots. In Game 6, he was 11-of-28 from the field.

It was jarring to see him and Klay miss so many shots. Draymond being overwhelmed inside was a foreign sight, too. We've grown so used to them winning. But mortality is inescapable, even for NBA players. And those three are 35, 33 and 33, respectively.

Professional athletes age a bit more gracefully than they did in the past, but that's still post-prime for all three stars. And keeping them together moving forward would lead to some shocking numbers.

"If the roster stays intact, including Green opting in to his contract, the Warriors project to pay a combined $457 million in salary and tax penalties," ESPN's Bobby Marks wrote. "That number will increase to $500 million once the roster is filled out in free agency."

Given a season in which the Warriors went 11-30 on the road and ultimately got walloped in the second round, can the front office justify half a billion dollars to bring the whole squad back?

LeBron James will still be in the West next season. Kevin Durant's now there, too. The Denver Nuggets are looking like a borderline juggernaut this postseason, and the Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks could all reasonably be expected to be better in 2023-24.

Kerr may have been referencing this team maxing out, but it may be more accurate to say this era of Warriors basketball has maxed out.

It almost seems unconscionable to break up a trio that has had as much success as Curry, Thompson and Green. There's value in keeping them together, even if they aren't the perennial contenders they once were. The fanbase adores this trio, and the idea of Thompson or Green in some other team's jersey is just weird.

But Curry still looks like a championship-level alpha. He averaged 30.5 points during this postseason run. That suggests he could have a few more years at or near this level. And maximizing those years could necessitate some impossibly difficult choices.

Andrew Wiggins and every member of the younger core should probably be available. And the front office almost has to at least gauge the market for Thompson and Green.

Time has come for every dynasty. In sports, nothing lasts forever, and the Warriors just reminded us of that.