Despite the home win over the Magic, the Warriors still have a win rate of less than 50% and are in 11th place in the West. In the words of Curry, the team's core guard, winning can only calm the storm a little, and it's always good to get back on track, but if the Warriors want to really stabilize, they need to play continuity, and that's where the hardest part is. But in terms of schedule, the Warriors will face the defending champion Nuggets next, and after back-to-back home games, they will have a four-game road streak, which will be a physical challenge for the Warriors. Obviously, the Warriors will have a tough time getting back into the playoffs. With an indefinite absence, goodbye to the Warriors, and a number of core issues are different, the Warriors may be forced to restructure the roster.
Winning and ending a losing streak are good things, but the Warriors' roster confusion is just as distressing. In the regular season against the Magic, although the Warriors eventually won, they lost a big player. Gary Payton II retired early due to a leg injury. Then, after the inspection report came out, according to NBA reporter Shams, Warriors internal sources revealed that Payton Jr. will miss several weeks due to a left hamstring strain. The Warriors couldn't give a specific timeline for Payton Jr.'s return, and the weeks were just vague statements. To put it mildly, Payton Jr. has entered a state of indefinite absence, no one can say for sure when he will return, and he will definitely be out for a long time.
Whether it's for the Warriors or Payton Jr., it's a heavy blow. Because Payton Jr. returned to the Warriors after a full month of absence due to a calf injury. As a result, not long after his comeback, he was injured again, and this kind of old injury is the most troublesome. In addition to the physical impact, this injury can have a mental impact on the players to a certain extent. Don't look at Payton Jr.'s statistics are very average, averaging only 5.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game, and the three-point shooting rate is only 28.1%.
Before the start of the season, when a reporter asked Curry about whether Paul would be the starter, Curry bluntly said that the Warriors have seven players who are worthy of starting. Obviously, the seven players in Curry's mouth, in addition to their championship starters and Paul, the other one is Payton Jr., who was one of the Warriors' starters in the Western Conference semifinals between the Warriors and the Lakers. And after Payton Jr. returned, Kerr immediately brought him back into the rotation lineup, and gradually increased his playing time. But for now, the Warriors can only be patient, and Payton Jr. will not be available for at least a while.
In addition to Payton Jr., Dream Green is gradually forgotten, you know, Green is the core of the Warriors, but he is not only in a state of indefinite suspension, but judging from some reports, Green is far from a comeback. Previously, Kerr revealed in an interview that Green never came to the Warriors' training gym, and even though the league allowed him to participate in team training during the suspension, he did not choose to use training to maintain his condition. In addition, Slater, a reporter with the Warriors, revealed that the Warriors were deliberately vague about Green's entire psychotherapy part. If Green's psychotherapy and community contributions are never clearly stated, he will not be able to return, and his physical condition is doubtful because he has not trained with the Warriors, and his return will only get later and later.
In other words, Payton Jr. and Green, the two core guards inside and outside, are unlikely to return in a short period of time, and their combined salaries exceed $30 million. During this time, the Warriors' starting lineup kept changing, and as Paul replaced Podzemski into the starting lineup, the Warriors' starters became Paul, Curry, Klay, Kuminga, and Tres Davis. Among them, except for Curry and Klay, the remaining three players are not the Warriors' starters at the beginning of the season, and Kuminga and Davis are also very young new generation players.
At the same time, although Podzemski is back on the bench, he is still a very important part of the Warriors' rotation. Perhaps, the Warriors will completely change the roster structure during this chaotic period, and the injuries, suspensions, and other problems of some core veterans have given young players a chance to step up. And Clay has previously said things like "enjoy the last chapter of his career" in interviews, which makes it hard not to speculate whether he has the idea of retiring. I have to admit that the Warriors are indeed a bit of a dead end, their core is old, problems are frequent, the salary structure is poor, the results are not ideal, and it is only a matter of time before they change.