Questions Warriors Must Answer Before End of Regular Season

The Golden State Warriors are struggling.

It's a relative term, to be sure, and one that only goes back a few weeks. Still, the team that once trounced most everyone it countered early in the 2021-22 NBA season entered Tuesday night having dropped five of its past seven contests, most recently coughing up a 21-point, third-quarter lead against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

In big-picture terms, the five losses aren't super meaningful, although they have prevented the Dubs from gaining any ground on the Chris Paul-less Phoenix Suns and kept the door wide open for the red-hot Memphis Grizzlies. What they have done, though, is reinforce the fact that an NBA title is far from guaranteed.

There are issues to clear up and questions to answer over the remainder of the stretch run. The following three inquiries in particular stand out above the rest.

Can Draymond Green Fully Recover in Time for Playoffs?

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Want to know why the Warriors have been so out of rhythm lately? It's because their conductor is on the sideline.

Stephen Curry might be the face of this franchise, but Draymond Green is the true maestro of this system. His vision and creativity are what properly align the Warriors' offense, while his intelligence and versatility are the secret sauce of their defense.

A back injury has sidelined the four-time All-Star since early January, and he said at the All-Star Game he might be three or four weeks from returning.

Getting him back in action is critically important to this club's success, but that's just the starting point. The Warriors will need him at full strength from one night to the next. They have taken their time with his recovery up to this point, but sooner than later, they'll need to unleash him so he can build up his conditioning for the postseason.

How Much Can James Wiseman Contribute?

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As of Tuesday afternoon, the Warriors were still awaiting the season debut of James Wiseman.

They've spent much of their time waiting on Wiseman since selecting him second overall in the 2020 draft. He played just 39 games as a rookie before that campaign was erased by the meniscus tear still delaying his start to this one. Couple that with the fact the 20-year-old suited up just three times in college, and it's fair to wonder how ready he'll be to actually contribute whenever he is allowed to hit the hardwood.

Even the team itself isn't sure.

"James is extremely young, and he hasn't had a lot of playing experience at this level," assistant coach Mike Brown told NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole. "So, he doesn't really know the league. And he's trying to figure it while playing in a league that is faster than anything he has experienced in his life. There's a natural learning curve."

All young players go through growing pains, it's just that most aren't experienced in the middle of a championship chase. The Warriors could certainly use Wiseman's size, length and athleticism on the interior, but only if he proves much more polished than he looked last season, when his net differential was a rotation-worst minus-13.5 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.

Can Splash Brothers Push This Offense into Elite Tier?

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The Dubs' dynasty featured plenty of smart, stingy, switch-y defense, but their offensive eruptions provide the lasting images from that success. When Curry and his sibling-in-splash Klay Thompson were raining down threes like storm clouds, that's when Golden State felt most unstoppable.

This team is different. It's much more rooted in defensive success. As of Tuesday, the Warriors ranked first in defensive efficiency and just 10th on the opposite end.

The latter figure is fine, but the Warriors can be better than that. They might need to be better if they hope to realize their championship dreams, and while there are several different paths to offensive improvements, the simplest involves a return to form by Curry and Thompson.

This is Curry's worst full season as a shooter from the field (42.8 percent) and from three (37.6). Thompson's 38.5 three-point percentage is another career-worst, and his 42.3 field-goal percentage is the second-lowest he has ever posted.

For almost anyone else, those numbers would be manageable, but for the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history, they just aren't cutting it. If they can get their groove back, Golden State's offense can follow suit, and then it can potentially strike the two-way balance needed to hang another NBA championship banner from the Chase Center rafters.