The Transcendent Steph Curry, The Great Klay Thompson And The Leader Draymond Green: Twilight Reflections On The Warriors Dynasty

The Golden State Warriors of the last 15 years – led by Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – are one of the greatest dynasties in the history of the game. They rank right up there with the Magic/Worthy/Kareem Lakers and the Bird/McHale/Parish Celtics of the 1980s, the Jordan and Pippen Bulls of the 1990s and the Shaq and Kobe Lakers and Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Spurs of the 2000s. But this legendary trio is entering its twilight heading into Tuesday night’s play-in game against the Sacramento Kings. Curry is 36, Klay and Draymond 34. Nobody knows how much longer they will be together or how much magic is left in the tank.

I grew up in the Bay Area in the 1980s, a fan of the Run TMC Warriors. That is: Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. While these were good teams who were terrific to watch with their fast paced, offensive minded style under head coach Don Nelson, they were never champions. Lacking a big man, they always seemed to lose to the Karl Malone led Utah Jazz in the playoffs. Malone was too big and too strong for that Warriors team. They had no answer for him.

And then all Warriors fans prayers were answered when we acquired the #1 pick in the 1993 draft Chris Webber. Finally, we had an answer to Malone. Finally, a championship run seemed in reach. But Webber and Nelson clashed from the start – and he was traded to the Washington Bullets after only one year on November 17, 1994, dashing all of our hopes. It wasn’t until the Warriors drafted Curry in 2009, Thompson in 2011 and Green in 2012 that the nucleus was in place for what would become the current Warriors dynasty.

Nobody predicted what Steph Curry would become. Skinny and unathletic as a high school player, Curry was not deemed Division I material by the major college basketball programs. Only unheralded Davidson and its head coach Bob McKillop saw his potential. Even Curry’s Dad, former NBA player Dell Curry, didn’t foresee his son’s future greatness. When McKillop told Dell that his son would make a lot of money playing basketball one day, Dell thought to himself: “Yeah, maybe overseas”. But Curry emerged as a sophomore in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, leading Davidson to wins over top tier programs Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin – scoring 40, 30 and 33 points, respectively – en route to the Elite 8 where they lost to Kansas. Curry was drafted by the Warriors with the #7 pick after his junior year in the 2009 NBA Draft.

However, the same doubts about Curry’s size and athleticism lingered as he entered the NBA. In addition, he struggled with serious ankle problems early in his career. On February 27, 2013, Curry flashed his potential in a breakout game against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, scoring 54 points, including 11 3-pointers. In 2014-2015, Curry won his first MVP – and the Warriors their first NBA Championship. The following year he repeated the feat, putting together one of the greatest seasons in the history of the game and leading the Warriors to the best regular season record of all time, 73-9. The season was bittersweet, however, as the Warriors lost a 7-game series to Lebron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

After the season, the Warriors signed Kevin Durant and won two more championships the following two seasons. They lost in the NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors in 2019 when Klay and Durant both went down with serious injuries. In 2022, the Warriors rose once again to beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals for their fourth championship.

The two greatest players of their generation are Lebron James and Steph Curry – and they couldn’t be more different. Lebron is 6’9″, 260 lbs with freakish athletic ability. He was a high school phenom who was the #1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft straight out of high school. Sports Illustrated dubbed him The Chosen One while he was still in high school. As previously stated, nobody wanted Curry out of high school. He was thought to be too small and unathletic. Only local college Davidson offered him a scholarship. While Lebron is a physical specimen, Curry’s strengths are his uncanny hand-eye coordination and legendary outside shooting. He is basketball’s version of Roger Federer (see Ron Kroichick, “Hand-eye masters” [SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED], San Franscisco Chronicle, Sunday April 14 B1). It took decades of hard work for Curry to develop into the player he is today.

Playing in Curry’s shadow as the Warriors #2 option has been Klay Thompson. The second greatest shooter in NBA history – after Curry – the tandem was labeled The Splash Brothers. Klay’s greatest performance was in Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals at Oklahoma City. The Warriors trailed Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook’s Thunder 3-2 and were on the verge of elimination. But Klay put together a legendary performance, scoring 41 points, including 11 3-pointers, willing the Warriors to even the series and eventually win it in Game 7. While Curry was always in the spotlight, Klay played Pippen to Curry’s Jordan. Just as Jordan didn’t win a championship until Pippen came along, Steph would not have won any without Klay.

In the 2019 NBA Finals, Klay tore his ACL and MCL while going up for a dunk. During his rehab, he tore the Achilles tendon in his other leg. It would be 941 long days before he returned to action against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 9, 2022. In one of the greatest moments in the history of sports, Klay crossed over Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen and threw down a nasty dunk in his first game back. Nobody knows what Klay went through mentally and physically to get back but that dunk encapsulated who he is: one of the best players to ever play the game – no matter what anybody says. Klay’s return was pivotal for the Warriors 2022 championship.

The last two years have been a bit of a struggle for Klay. Unable to recapture his former greatness, he frequently sulked and appeared unhappy on court. On Monday February 5, 2024, Klay was benched for the final 7:19 as the Warriors closed out the New Jersey Nets. It was quite a comedown for one of the greatest of all time. That Wednesday, The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson wrote a terrific article on Klay’s predicament (“Klay Thompson’s not done yet, but he and the Warriors need a pivot”, February 7):

Imagine having your prime hijacked. Imagine spending three years working to get back to your highest level only to learn it’s now too high. Imagine looking for yourself in the mirror and not finding the you that you remember.

Shortly thereafter, Head Coach Steve Kerr moved Klay into the sixth man role. Instead of complaining about coming off the bench, Klay embraced it and has made the pivot Marcus Thompson correctly diagnosed he needed to make. He has accepted that he is no longer the All NBA player he once was and transitioned into the winning player that he can be in the latter stages of his career, after the two devastating injuries. While many wrote him off and thought he was finished early in the season, Klay has risen once again.

Let’s not forget Draymond Green. Every team needs an enforcer and for the Warriors that’s Draymond. If you mess with Steph or Klay, you’re going to have to deal with Draymond. One of the best defenders in the league, Draymond is also the leader every championship team needs. That has been in evidence this year in his encouragement of Jonathan Kuminga, who has emerged as a key piece and future star.

Early in the season, however, it looked like Draymond’s career might be finished. The NBA had had enough of his extracurricular on court activities – like stomping on Domanta Sabonis’s chest in the 2023 playoffs – and suspended him for 12 games after he punched the Phoenix Sun’s Jusuf Nurkic in the face. To his credit, Green got his mind right during his suspension and has been pivotal in the Warriors second half of the season resurgence. “You certainly see how much we need him on the court. We’re not the same team without him,” Warriors General Manager Mike Dunleavy told the San Franscisco Chronicle’s Ann Killion (“Dunleavy’s task: Maximizing current window while preparing for future” [SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED], Sunday April 14 B1).

On Tuesday night, the 10th seeded Warriors will take on the 9th seeded Sacramento Kings in a play-in game. The Warriors need to win and then win again in order to get into the playoffs. Once perennial favorites, the Warriors are 50 to 1 longshots to win the NBA championship this year. But as the Warriors dynasty enters its twilight, they will always have a puncher’s chance as long as Steph, Klay and Draymond are around.