Draymond Green Thinks Warriors Can Contend for NBA Title: 'We Can Do That S--t Again'

Despite missing the playoffs last season, Draymond Green expressed his belief Thursday that the Golden State Warriors can still win another championship.

Speaking to Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic, Green acknowledged that the Warriors look like a different team than they did in past years, but also suggested they can still be contenders:

"I know I ain't done. I know [Stephen Curry] ain't done. So it ain't like, 'All right, I feel like I'm at the end. I'm cashing it in.' Nah. We can do that s--t again. I know we can do it again. I'm not a part of the consortium that don't think we can get it done.

"But in doing it again, you've got to acknowledge that it's not going to look like it did before. I'd struggle if we were just cashing it in. That ain't for me. But I don't feel like anyone around here is doing that. We're actively trying to put the pieces together to build."

With Green, Curry and Klay Thompson as key players, the Warriors won three NBA championships in four seasons from 2015 to 2018, and they also won a fourth in 2022.

During their eight-year run of dominance, the Dubs reached the NBA Finals six times, and they did it on the strength of one of the most explosive offenses in recent memory.

Kevin Durant helped the Warriors win back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018, along with reaching the Finals in 2019, but after he left in free agency, Golden State hit the skids.

Injuries to key players were largely to blame for the Warriors having the NBA's worst record in 2019-20 and missing the playoffs again in 2020-21, but they were able to reinvent themselves in 2021-22, as Curry was named NBA Finals MVP for the first time in his illustrious career.

The core of Curry, Green and Thompson went 44-38 and reached the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23, and while they posted an even better record of 46-36 last season, they fell to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament and missed the postseason.

There was some thought that the core would run it back, but Thompson left for the Dallas Mavericks in free agency, leaving the Warriors to retool around Curry and Green.

There were rumblings that they were in on a sign-and-trade for Paul George and a trade for Utah Jazz star forward Lauri Markkanen, however, nothing materialized.

That forced the front office to make some value additions in the form of veterans Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De'Anthony Melton, but most importantly, they will have to lean more heavily than ever on their young talent.

Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Moses Moody all had fairly significant roles with the Warriors last season, and with Thompson out of the picture, they will almost certainly be even more central to Golden State's success in 2024-25.

Head coach Steve Kerr is used to having battle-tested veterans to lean on, and while he still has that with Curry and Green, he will have to put far more trust in some relatively inexperienced players as well.

It remains to be seen if the Warriors truly have enough pieces to go to the playoffs and be contenders, but if they get off to a slow start, they could be candidates to trade away some of their young players for another star capable of joining forces with Curry and Green, and vying for a title.