Title or No Title, Golden State Warriors Facing Pivotal 2016 Offseason

Would an NBA team coming off two consecutive titles ever rattle its core for the chance to extend an already wide-open championship window?

The Golden State Warriors are about to let us know.

Golden State doesn't technically have its second straight title. But it does have a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers heading into Game 3 Wednesday.

The Dubs' first two victories have come by a combined 48 points—the highest differential ever through the first two games of the NBA Finals. Of the 14 other teams to outscore their opponents by at least 25 points in Games 1 and 2 of the title round, 13 went on to raise a championship banner. Golden State has nearly doubled that benchmark.

So yes, another banner of its own appears imminent. What comes after isn't as certain.

Title-winning teams seldom have to worry about shaking things up in advance of the next season. Retirements happen. Contracts expire. But the safest, savviest play, despite the historical regression of championship squads, is to keep the core intact. Agonizing over wholesale changes comes later, when the magic officially burns out.

It should seemingly be no different for these Warriors. They have already bucked one trend, improving after an initial title en route to capturing 73 wins and securing their status as the best regular-season team in NBA history. And their four biggest contributors in terms of minutes—Harrison Barnes, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson—are all under the age of 29.

Decisions must be made on the futures of Leandro Barbosa (unrestricted free agent), Barnes (restricted free agent), Festus Ezeli (restricted), Shaun Livingston (non-guaranteed) and Marreese Speights (unrestricted). But the Warriors needn't cut bait with any of them. They can stand pat and still be a force that impacts how the rest of the league approaches rebuilding and retooling.

As Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes aptly put it:

That looming threat of regression, though, is why the Warriors could be against preserving the status quo. They are at their apex as a unit. This isn't last year.

Improving upon 67 wins was impractical enough. Matching or exceeding 73 victories, with this exact roster, is just silly. And while there are no clear paths for other teams to reach the pedestal upon which the Warriors already sit, their ongoing reign is not without its threats.

The Oklahoma City Thunder actually outscored Golden State during the Western Conference Finals. If not for OKC being outscored, on average, by 103.7 points per 100 possessions (seriously) during crunch time in Games 5 and 6, the Warriors would never have even sniffed the Cavaliers.

There is no dismissing the San Antonio Spurs, either. They are old and slow and unfit to stick with Oklahoma City's length or Golden State's speed. But they posted a better regular-season net rating than either of those teams and have the means to yet again beef up their roster.

A series of plausible salary dumps and some cap-hold voodoo is all that separates the Spurs from max space and, thus, the ability to enter the Kevin Durant sweepstakes—a game of chance they fully anticipate playing, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. If that doesn't work, chasing Mike Conley could be in the cards, also according to Stein. And if that doesn't work, Al Horford, Nic Batum, Pau Gasol and other interesting fits are out there.

And let's face it: This is why we're really here, contemplating the reinvention of a Warriors team that, most years, would have no business tinkering with a damn thing.

Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

Each of the salary-cap explosions over the next two summers offers many established contenders the unique opportunity to make significant, otherwise impossible additions. Golden State is among those flexible enough to reap the benefits and, according to Stein, still plans on pitching Durant.

Creating the space necessary to sign the 2013-14 MVP comes with its fair share of collateral damage, however. The Big Three of Curry, Green and Thompson gets to stay, but some combination of Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Ezeli, Iguodala and Livingston must go. 

Bobby Marks of The Vertical outlined one of the more realistic scenarios for this pipe dream. In his hypothetical, the Warriors keep Livingston and Ezeli but lose Bogut (stretch provision or trade), Barnes (renounce restricted-free-agent rights) and Iguodala (trade). And that's in addition to renouncing the rights on all of their other free agents—Barbosa, Ian Clark, James McAdoo, Speights, Brandon Rush, etc.

Courtesy of Barnes' and Ezeli's pre-contract cap holds, the Warriors can play around with different options, perhaps framing a scenario in which they ditch Livingston, Kevon Looney and this year's first-round pick to retain Barnes. 

Either way, chasing Durant pillages the roster of its depth, all but obliterating a second unit that ranks in the top five of offensive and defensive efficiency during the regular season and playoffs, according to HoopsStats.com.

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Some don't see the benefits of breaking up the band in any way just to accommodate Durant. Incorporating him into the offense is a risk. Even if the experiment is successful, the end result might not be any better after factoring in the fractured bench.

And then there's the cultural shock that would be sent through the locker room. The Warriors are a tight-knit group. Their relationship transcends the basketball court. Stark change on the heels of another championship run could shake the emotional foundation of this team.

In some ways, it already has, as Bogut told NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper:

"

Guys have definitely asked questions. We're not immune to it. We've seen it. We've seen the rumors, heard the rumors, all that kind of stuff. Different guys at different times have been scratching their head and thinking, "Why?" The only way we can dispel all that stuff is maybe we've got to win five straight. Who knows? It's one of those things we can't really control, but we can control trying to make them make a tough decision.

"

Adding Durant to the Curry-Green-Thompson trio is tantalizing on paper, but there are so many moving parts to consider aside from Golden State's personnel concessions.

Are there enough touches to go around for the Warriors' theorized foursome? Just over half of Durant's buckets came off assists this past season. Is he ready to go the Thompson route, spotting up and working off the ball more than 75 percent of the time?

Is Ezeli ready to replace Bogut? The former recorded the better defensive rating and rim-protecting numbers during the regular season but has logged just 1,274 minutes since 2013-14. The latter saw more run in 2015-16 alone (1,451 minutes), and his $11 million salary next season should even make him a cheaper option than Ezeli.

Most importantly, can the Warriors maintain their on-court identity while dumping one or both of Barnes and Iguodala? Will the famed "Death Squad" continue to exist?

The lineup of Barnes, Curry, Green, Iguodala and Thompson is a part of the Warriors' DNA. This group shot 53.5 percent from three and outgunned opponents by 44.4 points per 100 possessions in almost 173 minutes of regular-season action. More than 2,400 five-man ensembles have seen 100 or more minutes of playing time over a single season since Basketball-Reference.com began tracking lineup data in 2000-01.

There isn't a collection of players with a higher net rating than Golden State's Death Squad:

"You can argue the Dubs boast the best team ever—and the best lineup ever," Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins wrote.

That the Warriors intend to think about tweaking this model in any way feels ludicrous. But it also speaks to the fragility of title windows.

This team, the best in NBA history, almost partially negated its regular-season dominance by falling to the Thunder. The Warriors turned a 3-1 grave into an NBA Finals bid, but their brush with mortality was just as eye-opening as it was impressive.

It's the same deal with Curry's playoff injuries. His "injury-prone" label is a designation of the past, but the Warriors, despite what their postseason splits say, are not the same team without him. Even with their depth and a do-everything star like Green, their fate remains tightly tethered to one player. And their supporting cast isn't made up of only young guns.

Iguodala is 32. Bogut will turn 32 in November. Livingston will be 31 to start next season. They will all be free agents in 2017, at which point Golden State must reinvest in aging talent or search for replacements.

But fleshing out the roster won't be as easy next summer, not even after accounting for the projected $107 million salary cap, per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. Curry's cap hold will soar to $16.4 million in advance of his impending max deal. Both Barnes and Ezeli, assuming they remain in town, will be earning well into eight figures annually. Barbosa, Clark, McAdoo, Rush and Speights could all be under new, more expensive deals, too. 

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

If Golden State wants to fix what isn't broken, this is the offseason to do it. And the temptation will be there. It may even extend past Durant and apply to other possible names who project as upgrades. After all, the Warriors, as they are now, won't ever have another chance like this one.

Then again, they may also be beyond reform.

Hence the importance of this summer, when the Warriors must decide between letting the current title window run its course or trying to, somehow, improve upon the best version of themselves.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com, unless otherwise cited. Salary information via Basketball Insiders.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @danfavale.