Ranking the 10 teams most likely to win 2020 NBA Finals
7. Golden State Warriors
It’s jarring to see the Golden State Warriors so low on a list of this nature, but with Kevin Durant rupturing his Achilles and Klay Thompson tearing his ACL, even if both impending free agents decide to re-sign and keep a title contender intact, they’re likely to miss most if not all of next season.
Even if Klay and KD both re-signed, made miraculous recoveries and returned to the hardwood around February or March, that would still leave the Warriors with just Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to carry the load for almost an entire season. Golden State also wouldn’t have the resources to round out the rotation with useful role players, and good luck convincing quality free agents to take a discount now that it appears this dynasty has gone the way of Ozymandias.
Warriors' offseason will be among the most intriguing in recent memory. I don’t doubt they’ll still max Klay, but their roster construction has to take his injury (well into ’20) and KD’s future into account-and Dubs don’t have a lot of tools to sign impact replacement players.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) June 14, 2019
A team with Curry and Draymond leading the way should still be taken seriously as a potential playoff squad, but it wouldn’t be a guarantee in the loaded West, and barring the miraculous, KD and Klay wouldn’t have nearly enough time back on the court for the Warriors to be considered title contenders again. Next year could be one to forget for the Warriors with Klay and KD’s futures up in the air, both in regard to their free agency decisions and their status for 2019-20.