The Golden State Warriors have fallen hard in just the last year-and-a-half after winning their fourth NBA championship in eight seasons.
Last season, they looked like two different teams at home and on the road, and their inconsistent play culminated in a loss in the second round of the playoffs.
This year, they lost 24 of their first 43 games, but since then, they have put together a five-game winning streak and have claimed seven victories in their last eight games.
It has led people to talk about them being a potential dark-horse team, and Bill Simmons feels they could make a deep run this summer — in fact, he even compared them to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, per NBC Sports Bay Area.
“So I went from ‘I’m completely out’ to ‘Oh man, is this going to be like the Chiefs?’ Is this where we counted out the Chiefs? Their receivers can’t catch the ball, they can’t score 20 points. And then they win the Super Bowl. I don’t know if the Warriors can win the [NBA Finals], but at least it seems believable now,” Simmons said.
Bill Simmons believes a midseason resurgence could lead to the Warriors making a Chiefs-like run at another championship 😏https://t.co/aNRK18xPWZ
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) February 14, 2024
Many have felt Golden State’s dynasty has been running on fumes, and they had especially been struggling on the defensive end.
During their championship seasons, they were an elite defensive team, and it was something that stood out about them, even though they had a phenomenal offense that changed the NBA for the better.
Klay Thompson, their second-best player during those title runs and a five-time All-Star, is clearly a shell of his former self, while forward Andrew Wiggins, who was an All-Star starter two years ago, has been struggling with his shooting.
But Wiggins has picked up his efficiency lately, while Stephen Curry has had some big scoring games.
One key to the Warriors’ resurgence has been the emergence of forward Jonathan Kuminga, a former lottery pick who had been branded as a disappointment in his first couple of seasons.
He’s averaging 15.6 points a game this season, which is significantly higher than his 9.9 points per game average last year.
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