NBA: Top 5 most surprising teams of the season before hiatus

Golden State Warriors

After having lost in the 2019 NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors, where they also lost Kevin Durant in free agency, and Klay Thompson to injury, the Golden State Warriors, had a rough few weeks. Even without two of their top three players, the team acquired All-Star D’Angelo Russell from the Brooklyn Nets in Durant’s departure and looked like they could stay afloat as a postseason team.

With Thompson out for likely the entire year, a backcourt of Curry and Russell seemed like it could be exhilarating, and for a few games, it was. This was until Curry suffered a broken hand only a few games into the season and left Russell to run the show solo.

The Warriors were not clear title favorite as they had been for the past half-decade when they entered this season, but they spiraled far out of control after Curry went down and lost any hope of even making the postseason. The team seemingly could not win games consistently and traded D’Angelo Russell before the deadline as they realized this was a lost season.

When the season suspended play, the Golden State Warriors owned the league’s worst record at an abysmal 15-50. Nobody had the Warriors making their sixth straight NBA Finals appearance at the beginning of the season, and while many rightfully speculated they would take a step back, nobody predicted it would be this bad. Still, Curry’s unfortunate injury played a significant part in their dreadful season, and without him, it is not much of a surprise they fell so flat.

Do not expect things to stay this way forever, however, as the Warriors have stockpiled enough assets to bolster their roster this offseason and leap right back into title contention next season.