Golden State Warriors: 3 best-case scenarios from a chaotic season

Scenario No. 3 for the Golden State Warriors: Hit the jackpot in the draft lottery

Not every best-case scenario for this team has to end with the Warriors in the postseason. It will be painful for this team to not even qualify for the play-in tournament, but that could mean the best long-term success for the franchise. Here’s how everything could break right for the Warriors to jam that championship window open.

The Warriors continue to wobble down the stretch and are passed by Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans to drop out of the play-in tournament. With the postseason starting to get out of reach, the Warriors prioritize Curry and Green’s long-term health and rest them for a few games down the stretch, which ticks off Green and allows De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings to pass them as well.

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Merely average play from the Chicago Bulls down the stretch and the Warriors find themselves with the ninth-worst record in the league at season’s end, a disappointing 33-39. Yet flattened lottery odds mean the Warriors have a 20 percent chance of leaping up into the top-4, which would be a double bonus if it also pushed the Minnesota Timberwolves out of the top-3, thus conveying their first-round pick that the Warriors own.

Two seasons ago the Pelicans jumped from seventh to first, the Memphis Grizzlies from eighth to second, and the Los Angeles Lakers from 11th to fourth. Last season the Charlotte Hornets went from eighth to third. So while it’s not probable, it is absolutely possible that the Warriors could win the first overall pick from the ninth slot.

In this dream scenario, the Warriors jump up to first overall, and the Timberwolves fall to fourth (they have a 12 percent chance of landing there and a 47.9 percent chance of landing at fifth). With the first pick, the Warriors take Cade Cunningham, and with the fourth, they take Jalen Green.

Next season they could have a rotation of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Kent Bazemore, Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, Cunningham and Green. That collection of young talent would either extend the Warriors’ window for years to come or allow them to trade for a true superstar in the next two seasons while not stripping the cupboard bare.

None of these scenarios are the most likely to happen, but all of them could absolutely come to pass. They would be a welcome balk to end a tough, up-and-down season filled with injuries, late-game collapses and all the stresses of a global pandemic. Whatever the end of this year brings, the Warriors and their fans are hoping for a 2021-22 season where this team can make one more run at the title with this core.