What if KD stayed?
Posted: Wed May 11, 2022 5:57 pm
in the 2019 off-season Golden State wanted to keep KD on their team, they wanted to continue a dynasty of winning and maintain their status as the premiere organization and team in basketball
KD made the decision instead to join Brooklyn and thus the Warriors began a journey of getting assets and flipping them only to likely be returning to the WCF for the first time since 2019 when KD left. The outcome of what they got for KD was 2 top 10 picks and 2 missed playoff opportunities. Tie that in with a mixture of horrendous luck with Klay Thompson injuries and another unfortunate Curry injury and you had a team that was hurting for a LONG time.
But what if KD stayed? How would this have changed anything for the Warriors? Well, for starters, not much would've likely changed in the 2019-2020 season. KD was naturally 100% injured and recovering and COVID happened. The roster that the Warriors roll out opening night would've been no different other than a lack of D'Angelo Russell, Maybe the Warriors still have to trade away Iguodala due to salary concerns with the extensions they sign but they will likely have locked up KD for 5 years along with Klay and Draymond that off-season.
So the season plays out, Curry probably still gets injured and has to sit out, the Warriors have a horrendous roster because a stupid amount of money is being paid towards injured players, likely they end up with the #2 pick and still get James Wiseman (or maybe opt for LaMelo for real this time because of having KD).
So the next season comes around, the 2020-2021 season. Klay got injured again and won't be playing but you still have Steph Curry, KD, and Draymond Green. Tie that in with their new draft selection. For simplicity we'll assume they have Wiseman. The year plays out and as many remember KD and Curry were both excellent when healthy this season. Unfortunately KD still has injury issues but in the games him and Curry do play it's enough to give the Warriors a solid safety net into a likely top 6 finish in the West. That playoffs the Warriors really show up. KD and Curry are unstoppable as Curry just added another scoring title while KD was showcasing a newfound hunger after not being in the playoffs for so long. Their first round matchup is vs. newly minted MVP Jokic and to be honest the Warriors probably make easy work of them likely beating them out in 6 games despite the efforts of Jokic and MPJ the defensive end was not nearly good enough. The second round the Warriors find themselves matching up with last years Phoenix Suns. This is where things get tricky, the Warriors are facing a team that can switch and effectively guard at the perimeter. Mikal Bridges, Ayton, CP3, Jae Crowder, the Suns came to play. This roster is deep and has no glaring weakness. Ayton is playing at a premiere level compared to his prior regular season and Booker is ascending to superstar status. I believe that this edition of the Warriors would lose to the Suns in a tight 7 game series.
The rest of the WCF plays out normal, Suns make the finals and lose to the Bucks who have an even easier time getting out of the East because of no KD, Kawhi and a surprise appearance from Atlanta in the ECF.
Now comes the 2021-2022 season. The Warriors picked late in the lottery and now maybe they score a guy like Cam Thomas, maybe they get lucky and grab Alperen Sengun or they select one of the lesser known guys. That off-season the Warriors don't make any MASSIVE moves other than they get more attention from guys wanting to ride to a ring. OPJ likely still joins, they still grab GP2, signing guys they like like Bjelica,
The Warriors come back in 2022 and it's basically this years roster with KD instead of Wiggins. The season rides out similarly but the Warriors are slightly better as KD is healthier this season. After a while Klay comes back and now the Warriors are poised to flat out win the West with a better roster than last year but more injury prone guys on their team.
The reality is KD did the Warriors a HUGE favor with the sign and trade deal. He gave them the assets they needed to proceed to make some of the most impressive moves from a GM in recent memory acquiring and improving the value of a long forgotten 1st pick while also securing another lottery selection for a prospective elite talent.
With this the Warriors basically put themselves back to the same position they would be in had KD stayed where they have a team that is clearly gunning for a championship but they have replaced the aging and injury prone KD with a young body unafraid to play hard every night in Wiggins along with the prospect of Kuminga who shows a serious ceiling if he's grown the right way.
The Warriors dodged a bullet by not resigning KD and because of they will likely also experience success that would go much further than if they kept KD where they would have had a much lesser chance to secure elite young talent for the future. In some ways the Warriors have accomplished what the Spurs did twice in finding elite talent at the right time to buoy their franchise into a new era while still keeping a championship aura to their team (Duncan pick-up with Robinson on the team, Kawhi pick-up with the Big 3 on the team).
KD made the decision instead to join Brooklyn and thus the Warriors began a journey of getting assets and flipping them only to likely be returning to the WCF for the first time since 2019 when KD left. The outcome of what they got for KD was 2 top 10 picks and 2 missed playoff opportunities. Tie that in with a mixture of horrendous luck with Klay Thompson injuries and another unfortunate Curry injury and you had a team that was hurting for a LONG time.
But what if KD stayed? How would this have changed anything for the Warriors? Well, for starters, not much would've likely changed in the 2019-2020 season. KD was naturally 100% injured and recovering and COVID happened. The roster that the Warriors roll out opening night would've been no different other than a lack of D'Angelo Russell, Maybe the Warriors still have to trade away Iguodala due to salary concerns with the extensions they sign but they will likely have locked up KD for 5 years along with Klay and Draymond that off-season.
So the season plays out, Curry probably still gets injured and has to sit out, the Warriors have a horrendous roster because a stupid amount of money is being paid towards injured players, likely they end up with the #2 pick and still get James Wiseman (or maybe opt for LaMelo for real this time because of having KD).
So the next season comes around, the 2020-2021 season. Klay got injured again and won't be playing but you still have Steph Curry, KD, and Draymond Green. Tie that in with their new draft selection. For simplicity we'll assume they have Wiseman. The year plays out and as many remember KD and Curry were both excellent when healthy this season. Unfortunately KD still has injury issues but in the games him and Curry do play it's enough to give the Warriors a solid safety net into a likely top 6 finish in the West. That playoffs the Warriors really show up. KD and Curry are unstoppable as Curry just added another scoring title while KD was showcasing a newfound hunger after not being in the playoffs for so long. Their first round matchup is vs. newly minted MVP Jokic and to be honest the Warriors probably make easy work of them likely beating them out in 6 games despite the efforts of Jokic and MPJ the defensive end was not nearly good enough. The second round the Warriors find themselves matching up with last years Phoenix Suns. This is where things get tricky, the Warriors are facing a team that can switch and effectively guard at the perimeter. Mikal Bridges, Ayton, CP3, Jae Crowder, the Suns came to play. This roster is deep and has no glaring weakness. Ayton is playing at a premiere level compared to his prior regular season and Booker is ascending to superstar status. I believe that this edition of the Warriors would lose to the Suns in a tight 7 game series.
The rest of the WCF plays out normal, Suns make the finals and lose to the Bucks who have an even easier time getting out of the East because of no KD, Kawhi and a surprise appearance from Atlanta in the ECF.
Now comes the 2021-2022 season. The Warriors picked late in the lottery and now maybe they score a guy like Cam Thomas, maybe they get lucky and grab Alperen Sengun or they select one of the lesser known guys. That off-season the Warriors don't make any MASSIVE moves other than they get more attention from guys wanting to ride to a ring. OPJ likely still joins, they still grab GP2, signing guys they like like Bjelica,
The Warriors come back in 2022 and it's basically this years roster with KD instead of Wiggins. The season rides out similarly but the Warriors are slightly better as KD is healthier this season. After a while Klay comes back and now the Warriors are poised to flat out win the West with a better roster than last year but more injury prone guys on their team.
The reality is KD did the Warriors a HUGE favor with the sign and trade deal. He gave them the assets they needed to proceed to make some of the most impressive moves from a GM in recent memory acquiring and improving the value of a long forgotten 1st pick while also securing another lottery selection for a prospective elite talent.
With this the Warriors basically put themselves back to the same position they would be in had KD stayed where they have a team that is clearly gunning for a championship but they have replaced the aging and injury prone KD with a young body unafraid to play hard every night in Wiggins along with the prospect of Kuminga who shows a serious ceiling if he's grown the right way.
The Warriors dodged a bullet by not resigning KD and because of they will likely also experience success that would go much further than if they kept KD where they would have had a much lesser chance to secure elite young talent for the future. In some ways the Warriors have accomplished what the Spurs did twice in finding elite talent at the right time to buoy their franchise into a new era while still keeping a championship aura to their team (Duncan pick-up with Robinson on the team, Kawhi pick-up with the Big 3 on the team).
