Warriors Exit Early, But Don’t Sound Ready To Rebuild: ‘We Had a Shot’

Much of that centers on the absence of Stephen Curry, who played in just one game in the series before being sidelined by a strained hamstring. That one game — Game 1, a win — has only fueled the belief inside Golden State’s walls that this postseason run could’ve gone much differently.

“I am pretty positive that if we had Steph, we’d have won this series,” team owner Joe Lacob told The Athletic.

Coach Steve Kerr didn’t need to wonder either.

“I don’t even have to think what if,” Kerr said, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “I know we had a shot. Maybe we wouldn’t have [won it all], but it doesn’t matter. Everything in the playoffs is about who stays healthy and who gets hot. Are you playing well at the right time?”

The Warriors were playing well — until they lost their most important piece.

What followed wasn’t a reckoning, but a quiet reaffirmation. Rather than hint at sweeping change, Lacob and the Warriors brass suggested this was more interruption than indictment. Per The Athletic, internal discussions have centered on improving around Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green, not replacing them.

“I have a great coach and I have a great GM,” Lacob said. “(Mike Dunleavy Jr.) made a fantastic trade for Butler. Before we made that trade, we were one game under .500 and it didn’t look like we were going anywhere.”

They did go somewhere: through a physical first-round series win over a young and athletic Rockets team, before running headlong into the Wolves — and the limitations of life without Curry.

“In that first game [against Minnesota], Steph looked like he was going to cook, right?” Lacob said. “But what are we going to do? Stuff happens.”

Kerr was equally upbeat when looking ahead.

“I’m excited. We’ve got Jimmy and Dray and Steph all coming back,” he said. “Our young players performed really well. There’s a lot to look forward to.”

Among those young players is potentially Jonathan Kuminga, who remains one of Lacob’s favorites. And while the 22-year-old is a restricted free agent, it doesn’t sound like the team has any intention of letting him walk.

“He’s got a hell of a lot of potential,” Lacob said. “I would think he would be a part of our future plans.”

Still, the Warriors aren’t ignoring the need for tweaks. According to The Athletic, some within the organization still believe the team lacks a Jordan Poole-type secondary playmaker — and that there’s a need for more positional size across the roster.

Brandin Podziemski’s name came up last summer in trade talks. This summer, it might again. But the bigger picture hasn’t changed: Golden State still believes it can win with this core, if healthy.

And if you ask Lacob, that belief hasn’t wavered one bit.

“We won a first-round series. I thought it was a hell of a win,” he said. “Maybe [it] got us too tired for this series, and maybe that was too much to overcome. But I think we’ve got a lot left.”