The Golden State Warriors need a career year from Stephen Curry

The Golden State Warriors had a violent drop from the top of the NBA to the bottom. To get back to their best, they need a great year from Stephen Curry.

The Golden State Warriors have one of the most incredible riches to rags stories in the history of sports. One minute they’re playing in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors, seeking their third straight championship with one of the most talented rosters in the history of the sport. The next, Kevin Durant has torn his Achilles and Klay Thompson has torn his ACL.

As we know, Durant departed for the Brooklyn Nets after the Finals and missed the season to rehab, and Thompson missed last season too. Stephen Curry missed most of last season as well after breaking a bone in his left hand, and Draymond Green played through injuries and a general lack of interest.

The Warriors went from injury-ravaged Finals runners-up to an injury-ravaged team with the worst record in the NBA, finishing 15-50, and it was a fall from grace that may never be seen again.

The 2020-21 season is a chance at redemption, but nothing is easy for this team anymore. On the day of the NBA draft, Klay Thompson tore his right Achilles tendon and will miss his second straight season. However, the Warriors did make some improvements to their roster, notwithstanding the devastating loss of Thompson.

They capitalized on the OKC Thunder teardown after Chris Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Kelly Oubre Jr., who then got flipped to the Warriors using their TPE. They also drafted James Wiseman second overall and made some value signings in the forms of Kent Bazemore and Brad Wannamaker.

The Golden State Warriors need everything Steph Curry has to offer

In the NBA, however, you can only go as far as your best player can carry you. That’s going to be the case now more than ever as Steph Curry will shoulder a massive load for this team. He’ll have weapons alongside him in Wiseman and Oubre, but he’ll need to be his usual lethal self and more this season if the Warriors are going to climb not just into the playoffs, but the upper half of the bracket.

When speaking to the media on Tuesday, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said that he was looking for Curry to average 34 minutes per game this season. In comparison to years past, that’s a massive number because the Warriors were usually just too good for him to even need to play fourth quarters. The last time he played more than 33.8 minutes per game, in fact, was the 2015-16 season, and their push for 73 wins was a big reason for this.

This time around it’s going to be out of necessity. The Warriors are talented, but not like that 2015-16 team. That team had peak Curry, Thompson and Green, and this version has no Thompson and both Curry and Green are years older.

Stephen Curry is the engine that drives this team when it functions at its best. He warps and bends defenses beyond their breaking point and creates opportunities for his teammates by the force of his sheer presence. The Warriors will need him at the highest level he can provide with some of the greatest workload he’s ever handled in his career.

The days of Curry putting up hyper-efficient 30 points per game averages may be behind him, but he’s going to need to dig deeper than ever before if he wants to carry his Golden State Warriors back to the top of the NBA.