It can be argued that, for several years now, the Golden State Warriors have wasted Stephen Curry’s championship window. They won in 2022, yes, but since then, they have not made any moves in their roster (aside from trading for Jimmy Butler) which signifies that they truly want to go at it again. Heading into the 2025/26 campaign, the story appears to be the same, something Kevin O’Connor recently spoke about.
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The biggest news coming out of Warriors camp has been the unfortunate saga involving Jonathan Kuminga. The Congolese star wants to leave, but Golden State isn’t budging. At least, not without getting something tangible in return. O’Connor is just one of the many people who find it baffling that the two parties cannot come to a solution.
O’Connor also feels that the Warriors aren’t really going “all-in” in their pursuit of a championship. The front office maintains that they are. But are they really doing anything to show that?
About Kuminga, the basketball analyst said, “Why would you want to go to a place that… they don’t want you? And you don’t want them. So, both sides don’t want each other, you know, they would want to use you as a trade piece mid-season…” O’Connor added that he understood why the Warriors want to hold on to Kuminga until the trade deadline in February, as they hope to get a better deal out of his exit.
“From the Warriors’ side of things, you’re Stephen Curry saying that all he plays for is a championship right now. The beginning of last season was a disaster. Draymond and Steph aren’t giving their all until they get Jimmy Butler…” O’Connor added.
The Warriors ended the regular season on a high note, and without Curry’s hamstring injury, they might have reached the Western Conference Finals as well. But expecting the same level of performance from Curry, Green, and Butler, all of whom are over 35, would be asking a lot.
As far as O’Connor is concerned, the expectations laid out by Curry and Co. are contradictory. “On one hand, are you actually going all in? Or not in the situation? Cause it took you a while to go get Jimmy Butler. You didn’t give up a lot to get him. Butler has a lot of flaws at this stage of his career, too. And then you’re playing this game with Jonathan Kuminga? A guy you don’t actually want?”
Warriors fans would sadly agree with O’Connor, who, like much of the NBA community, cannot understand why the Warriors have done nothing in the offseason. Almost every team has let players go and added fresh faces, but the Warriors have been silent. That raises the question: are they serious about helping Steph win another championship?
