Draymond Green believed the championship window for the Golden State Warriors had closed during the 2019-20 season.
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The Warriors dominated the NBA for almost half of the last decade. Stephen Curry and co made five consecutive trips to the Finals from 2015-19, winning 3-championships. The signing of Kevin Durant in the 2016-17 off-season made the Bay Area team invincible.
The Warriors had adopted a new style of playing basketball, relying on 3-point shooting and playing off the ball. The backcourt of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were a threat as soon as they passed halfcourt. The 2014-15 season was the beginning of the golden dynasty in the NBA.
The Steve Kerr team broke several milestones during the time. Curry won back-to-back MVPs, becoming the first-ever unanimous MVP in 2016. The Warriors had a 73-9 record in the 2015-16 season, dethroning Michael Jordan and the Bulls for the most successful regular-season team.
However, things fell apart post the 2019 NBA Finals. Many believed it was the end of an era in San Francisco basketball. In a recent appearance on JJ Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast, Warriors veteran Draymond Green addressed the notion of the Warriors championship window closing.
Draymond Green believed the championship window for the Warriors had shut post the 2019 NBA Finals.
Post losing the Finals against the Raptors in 2019, two-time Warriors Finals MVP Kevin Durant was a free agent and would sign with the Brooklyn Nets. Klay Thompson had torn his ACL and was to miss the entire 2019-20 season. The Dub Nation’s nightmare wasn’t over yet.
As the face of their franchise, Steph Curry would break his hand in a game against the Phoenix Suns. All of a sudden, the Warriors found themselves in the middle of nowhere. Warriors forward Draymond Green would talk about this in detail during a recent appearance on JJ Redick’s podcast.
When asked if he thought their window for winning a championship was over, Green said.
“Absolutely, 100% and not that I felt my window was closed because I couldn’t perform but I just couldn’t get myself going. I couldn’t get up for a game like I could get up for a big game. That year by far, my best game was Christmas Day. We were playing against Houston, and I got a real thing for them. This is coming off five straight Finals runs, smacking Houston was to get to three of those Finals. We need to beat Houston, we s**k right now but we need to beat Houston and so I was locked in for that game. We won that game and I played great. It was never a point where I felt my window was closing because of my skill but if we are gonna s**k like this every year? my window is closed because I can’t get up for these meaningless games.”
The Warriors had the worst record during the 2019-20 season, having won only 15-games that season.
Though they had a rough patch from 2019-21, the Warriors are back to winning ways this season. One of the favorites to win the chip this year with a healthy Klay returning.
