After losing Klay Thompson a while ago and adding Jimmy Butler last season, the Golden State Warriors entered the new season hoping their veteran core would still be strong enough to push them near the top of the West.
Instead, the early results show a team carried almost entirely by its established players but struggling to consistently match the elite production coming from the conference’s true contenders. Sitting in eighth place, Golden State has looked solid, yet rarely dominant.
The Warriors are contenders, but their limits are hard to ignore
Stephen Curry continues to lead the way with 29.1 points in just over 30 minutes per night, and Butler has brought firm scoring and physical two-way play. Draymond Green still anchors the offense and drives their defensive structure.
The issue is that even when this trio plays well, the Warriors often find themselves outgunned by teams with more explosive top-end production. Against the best in the West, their strengths have not been enough to shift games the way they once did.
The supporting group has moments but hasn’t provided enough to change that pattern. Jonathan Kuminga offers flashes but hasn’t found consistent rhythm. Moses Moody contributes in stretches but remains up and down from game to game.
Brandon Podziemski plays with great energy and ball movement, yet his impact still comes in complementary ways rather than shifting the overall direction of a matchup. These contributions help, but they do not elevate the team into the upper tier of the conference.
All of this leaves the Warriors in a difficult position. Their best players still produce at a high level, but not at the level required to control games against top Western opponents consistently. That gap shows up most clearly in the standings, where Golden State’s solid performances have not translated into the kind of wins needed to climb beyond the middle of the pack.
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This is where the real issue becomes impossible to overlook. Curry, Butler, and Green still set the tone every night, but they are carrying a workload that other top Western Conference teams hand to their young franchise cornerstones.
The rest of the conference is being led by players entering or already in their primes, and that difference shows up directly in the standings. The Thunder, Rockets, and Spurs are powered by young stars who already dictate the flow of games.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has Oklahoma City competing at the top of the West. Houston continues to rise behind Alperen Şengün’s impressive early-season form. And even a rebuilding San Antonio looks threatening with Victor Wembanyama leading the way.
Golden State does not have a young star in that class, and it affects everything about how they compete. Kuminga’s flashes are encouraging, but he is not producing at the level of the West’s rising engines.
The Warriors are competitive but risk falling behind the NBA's elite
Moody and Podziemski provide valuable minutes, but they are not primary forces who tilt games. Against teams whose best players are entering their prime years, Golden State often has to play close to perfect simply to keep up.
Butler helps stabilize the present, yet his arrival does not change the long-term picture. He raises the team’s floor for this season, but the Warriors still lack a player who can eventually take over the franchise and carry it forward. Until that happens, the weight stays on Curry, and the gap between Golden State and the West’s top young cores continues to widen.
The result is a competitive team stuck in the middle of a conference driven by youth, athleticism, and long-term upside. The Warriors can still win on any given night because of their veteran leadership, but the structure beneath them is no longer aligned with where the West and the NBA overall are headed.
Without a young, star-level player to anchor the next era, Golden State risks sliding further behind teams that already look built for both the present and the future. It seems teams that are putting their faith into oldtimers don't drive well.