How long the NBA offseason brought together the underdog Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO – One after the other, they radiated the same passion in the Chase Center interview room. It was as if they had been coached. Or read the 2024-25 edition of the “How to be an Ideal Warrior” handbook.

No one resorted to the old bromide — “there's no 'I' in team” — but the words off their tongues were more “we” than “me.”

Put another way, esprit de corps was off the Warriors' roster at media day.

Some of that is the result of Golden State's exceptionally long offseason, 166 days of absolute freedom, plenty of time to hibernate, hydrate, hit the weights and rejuvenate. There's also some credit for how the Warriors went out last season, a humiliating 24-point NBA play-in tournament loss to the Kings in Sacramento.

I asked Draymond Green how much he missed the intensity and stakes of the playoffs, and his answer was predictable:

“I miss it a lot,” he said. “I tend to play my best basketball that time of year.”

There's a palpable desire among the current Warriors to wash away that underwhelming finish in Sacramento, and there's been no shortage of energy and enthusiasm for a return to basketball and the sense of brotherhood that can come with it. The Hawaiian island of Oahu will have plenty of them this week.

“I think we're ready and itching to get back,” Gary Payton II said.

“Exited early last year,” Trace Jackson-Davis said. “Guys have had time off. The boys got the day off.

“Now we are hungry.”

Stephen Curry, fully aware that his NBA years are numbered, exudes a sense of urgency that can only be felt by someone who has won every major individual honor. Now, at 36, his only interest is to be a part of something special.

As a team capable of making a serious run at another NBA Finals win, that would put him in the NBA's ultra-exclusive five-ring club. He's not at all interested in resting on his laurels and cashing a seven-figure paycheck.

“It's going to be fun from day one on Tuesday when we hit the court and start getting our reps in because every day — we say it all the time in training camp — that's the way to think if you want to be great in this league. ” Curry said. “But it's more true for us than ever. It's important for us every day to be able to figure this stuff out.”

The Warriors are comfortable playing the underdog. Not since 2018 have they started the season among the championship favourites. The squad that once led the league has been projected to top 50 wins just once in the past five seasons.

The NBA has since caught up and moved on in many ways. How else to explain Golden State finishing third in the Western Conference in 2022, sixth in 2023 and 10th in 2024?

Most projections have these Warriors struggling to avoid another play-in tournament detour in the postseason. And they are fine with that.

“We won a championship my first year, but that team was a good team, too,” Moses Moody said. “But it wasn't like before the season everyone was saying, 'Oh, you already know it's going to be a championship.'

“So that says we're not that far off. Things happen, a lot happens throughout an NBA season. I think we're not that far from where we need to be.”

Golden State should benefit from the fact that its roster is loaded with players with meaningful motivation and incentives. With curry and green, it ages. With Jonathan Cuminga, it's a burning desire to deserve a huge contract. With Kevon Looney and GP2, this is an interesting deal next summer. Buddy Hield wants respect. And Andrew Wiggins, well, wants to get back to the level he reached in 2021-22.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft while making his first and only NBA All-Star team. The 2025 game is scheduled for the Chase Center. And, yes, Wiggins envisions joining the league's best players on his home court.

“It would be amazing,” he said. “I'm going to go for it, work hard and hopefully do everything I can to get there. Just have to be consistent, keep at it.”

When I asked Wiggins what it would take to make it a reality, he offered a metaphorical peek into the invisible handbook:

“We have to win.”

If words are gospel, Wiggins' mind is in the right place. The same can be said about his teammates. They are talking. The next six months will reveal whether they will be able to walk or not.

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