Unexpected 24-point fiasco, embarrassing 5-point symbol! A good hand of cards is sparsely played, the first 400 million giants in NBA history missed the playoffs, and may face disintegration this summer!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
The NBA regular season has officially come to an end, and the play-offs have begun. In today's game, the Lakers narrowly defeated the Pelicans 110-106 away, won the No. 7 seed in the West, and successfully advanced to the playoffs, James hit 23 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks of quasi-triple-double data, thick eyebrows sent 20 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks, Zhan Mei is in decent condition, fortunately, a number of role players stood up, which is definitely an unexpected gain in this play-off, and also retains greater suspense for the next face against the defending champion Nuggets.
is also a Western giant, but the Warriors lost to the Kings 94-118 away in today's play-offs, unexpectedly suffered a 24-point defeat, and unfortunately were eliminated and missed the playoffs. Klay shot 0 out of 10, scored zero eggs, and directly rushed to the first place on the hot search list in the United States after the game, and was criticized by the American media and fans, and his contract renewal was lost in one game.
As a result, not many people actually noticed that Curry also played a bad game, scoring 22 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists on 8-of-16 shooting, as well as a game-high 6 turnovers. The team may not be asking Curry to score 50 points on the Kings' home court like he did in the playoffs last year, but Curry's 22 points are clearly a little less than Keegan Murray's performance.
"I'm sure no one wants to meet us next season!" Will the 36-year-old Curry still say that this year?
Since entering the league in '09, Curry has missed the playoffs for the sixth time in 15 seasons of his career, and the third time in the past five years.
There are good media bloggers who posted a comparison of James and Curry's playoff records, James has a 3-0 career playoff record, and Curry is 0-3. And this year's Warriors also set the most embarrassing record in NBA history:
1. Worst record in play-off history;
2. The highest-paid team that missed the playoffs.
Indeed, according to the data listed by Bobby Marks, a salary expert at ESPN, the total salary of the Warriors this season is as high as 227.7 million, and the total luxury tax is as high as 172.8 million US dollars, and the total expenditure has reached the highest in the league of nearly 400 million US dollars (the highest in NBA history).
I vaguely remember that three years ago, also in the play-offs, the Warriors, as the No. 8 seed in the West, lost to the Lakers in the first round of the play-offs, and in the next life-and-death battle, they lost to the Grizzlies again 112-117, losing by an embarrassing 5-point difference, and missed the playoffs.
In fact, Curry did just that in the following season, leading the team to the fourth championship of his career!
However, just one season later, the following 2022-23 season, the Warriors are like a different team, with the same staffing as the championship season, but they have played an up-and-down season, Curry entered the playoffs for the first time in his Warriors career, but did not break out of the Western Conference.
Now has a 400 million team, but it was out early in the play-offs, which also means that the warrior dynasty of the 'Kuchai Tang' combination of 8 years and 4 championships is really about to collapse and face disintegration and reconstruction!
A good hand was played poorly, and the Warriors' record was indeed beyond everyone's expectations. In the coming offseason, management will face a number of issues to solve:
1. Klay Thompson will be a full free agent, will he renew his contract and how much?
2. Does Paul's $30 million non-guaranteed contract exercise the team option?
3. Did Kuminga and Moody opt for an early contract extension?
Perhaps, the 34-year-old Thompson really played the last game of his Warriors career, and the Warriors have never had a 'Splash Brothers' again. Thompson's salary this season is $43.21 million, ranking 12th in the league, and so far this season, Thompson has averaged only 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, shooting 43.2%/38.8%/92.7% from three, and the statistical performance he played is completely unable to support the next contract amount he wants.
Therefore, this season, the Warriors management and Thompson have launched many contract renewal negotiations, but there are still great differences, and the early contract renewal plan has failed, and now it is even more difficult to sign!
As for his future career, Thompson said: "I've accomplished so much at the Warriors, and no matter what happens in the future, I won't be dissatisfied with this place, and I'm so grateful for everything here!"
Indeed, it is undoubtedly very difficult for Warriors fans to accept that this season ended in this way, but if the Warriors want to embrace the future, they must go through all the pains that a rebuilding team needs to go through, and give up what must be abandoned, so should the Warriors tear down and start over?