A former NBA champion says the Golden State Warriors have not done enough to build the team around Steph Curry for the upcoming season.
On Wednesday’s NBA Today Show, Kendrick Perkins was asked about his thoughts on the topic. He observed that Golden State is putting more emphasis on developing younger talent while Curry can still perform for the team.
“You still have Steph Curry, a guy that wants to win, a guy that every single season, he wants to go out and win a championship,” Perkins said.
The former Boston Celtics center thinks Curry has lost the “joy” of playing with the Warriors over the past two years due to the team’s seeming shift on talent development rather than contending for a championship.
“You can see the joy that he played with in the Olympics … Winning the gold medal. It was all over his face, the emotions,” noted Perkins. “We haven’t seen that since they last won the championship. That’s [been] going [on for] over two years now.”
The Warriors lost Curry’s “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson in free agency, but acquired Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton, and Kyle Anderson. However, Golden State still lacks a formidable center and a significant scoring machine apart from Steph.
Perkins knows the importance of developing a team for the future, but he also notes that Curry is already 36 years old entering the next season, and his window is getting smaller.
Golden State Warriors adamant on developing younger talent
The Golden State Warriors have made some moves to build their team around Stephen Curry with veteran players this offseason, but it looks like their younger talent will determine how good the team will be in the coming season.
The Warriors reportedly missed out on trading for Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen in the offseason because they don’t want to let go of sophomore guard Brandin Podziemski. Markkanen would have put Golden State back into contendership.
Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Curry is presumably entering the twilight of his career, but he recently won his first Olympic gold medal and is still determined to win a fifth NBA championship with the Warriors. He seems to trust that the team will prioritize their window with him, despite the roster shake-ups indicating the contrary.
“Let’s put it this way, it’s a long-winded way of saying that if it is a situation where you’re a bottom feeder and it’s just because you want to stay there, I’d have a hard time with that,” Curry said in the July 24 interview with Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. “But I don’t think that’s going to be the reality.”
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