Tuesday night was a tough way for the season to end for the Golden State Warriors. And it was an awful way for Klay Thompson to (possibly) end his Warriors’ career.
The worst of the 10 teams in the Western Conference to keep playing after the regular season was the Sacramento Kings. Golden State finished strong, going 27-12 down the stretch. Sacramento lost seven of its 11 games and limped into the Play-In Tournament, seeming to be the best candidate to go one-and-done.
Instead, the Kings made easy work of the Warriors, 118-94, and Golden State suffered through some all-time bad performances. Stephen Curry scored just five points in the first half, putting Golden State in an early hole. And even though he finished the game with 22, the zero points scored by Klay Thompson was too much to overcome.
For just the second time as a Warrior, Thompson failed to score in a game, and the other time he played less than two minutes. Tuesday night, he played 32 minutes, was 0-of-10 from the floor, and he is now an unrestricted free agent and 34-years-old.
Head coach Steve Kerr is clear where he stands. “We need Klay back. He’s still got good years left. What Klay has meant to this franchise and as good as he still is, we desperately want him back.”
Is the Dynasty Over?
It was just two years ago that the Warriors were the NBA champions. Just last year, they were in the Western Conference Semifinals. But Curry is now 36, Thompson is 34, Draymond Green is 34, and the latter’s minutes played per game this season was his lowest in 10 years.
Chris Paul, who Kerr lauded for giving the Warriors good minutes when Curry was on the bench and resting, turns 39 in three weeks. Overall this season, the Warriors had the fourth-oldest roster in the NBA, and nine players on the team were more than 30 years old.
When the 2023-24 season tipped off, the Warriors were paying +1200 to win the NBA Finals. That had them six-times more likely to win than the Oklahoma City Thunder, who ended up as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Since the dynasty began in 2015 with the first of four Warriors’ NBA Finals wins, only once have the preseason odds on Golden State been longer than they were this year. And it’s a safe bet that when the NBA finally posts its odds for the 2025 champion, the Warriors will be even further behind the rest of the West.
In the postgame press conference, Kerr sounded like a guy who understands where things are eventually headed for Golden State. “We’ve been really blessed here with amazing players and multiple championships and Finals appearances – the highest of highs. This is the flip side. This is life. This is how it works. You don’t get to stay on top forever.”
With over 25 years of experience as a distinguished sports writer for renowned platforms such as Fox Sports and ESPN, Kyle Garlett is a sports betting specialist who has been at the forefront of documenting the global surge in sports betting and online gaming. Based in Denver, Colorado, Kyle hosts an NFL betting YouTube show and podcast. Kyle also has two sports books published by HarperCollins.
Kyle graduated the Azusa Pacific University in 1996 with a B.A. Degree in Communication and Journalism.
