The Warriors explored a handful of blockbuster moves this offseason, including potential acquisitions of Lauri Markkanen and Paul George. With neither of those deals coming to fruition, the 2024/25 Warriors season relies in part on Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga taking a leap to All-Star levels, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area writes.
Wiggins performed at an All-Star level previously when the Warriors won the 2022 title, but his production has dipped since then. Kuminga enjoyed a modest breakout last season, averaging 16.1 points per game compared to the 9.6 PPG he registered in his first two seasons, but he hasn’t yet turned into a star level player.
Both players have star-level potential and the Warriors could submit another 50-win season if either of them erupts this year.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Lakers star Anthony Davis is poised to yet again be one of the top defensive players in the league. According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Davis has made clear to the Lakers that he wants to play alongside another big man more often. With Christian Wood injured to begin the season, Jaxson Hayes and Colin Castleton are the only healthy true bigs on the roster.
- While Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt are dealing with injuries, Gabe Vincent, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Cam Reddish will all be healthy and ready to compete for minutes from the start of the season, McMenamin writes in the same story. McMenamin tackles several other topics in the story, including LeBron James‘ three-point shooting, Bronny James‘ minutes and potential trades.
- Bradley Beal only played 53 games for the Suns last year, and the health of the big three composed of Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant is an area of concern for Phoenix heading into 2024/25, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports writes. The Suns ultimately underperformed last year but added Tyus Jones among others while keeping Royce O’Neale. Still, point of attack and wing defense is another reason for concern, Bourguet opines.
Wiggins is a role player, he definitely has to increase his production because last season he was awful, but expecting him to be an all star again is a lost cause.
Now Kuminga, he is the one that has to take this leap and become a star because he has shown flashes, has steadily improved and is still very young.They jeed him and Moody to take leaps, though they will probably lose one of them to FA.
There’s no reason Wiggins can’t bounce back. He had minor physical ailments and some stuff going on mentally but hopefully he’s had time and did what he needed to do. He’s still only 29 and he’s two seasons removed from being the second best player on a championship team.
Moody may be the lost cause, they got a lot of guys that play the wings with a more proven track record than him.
they explored but neither of those 2 teams wanted to make a trade with the warriors. Clippers said they wouldn’t trade to a rival team and the Jazz wanted a huge over pay they were not going to make a trade. Almost every big star traded lately has been a big over pay to get him.
I think part of the reason is that teams are convinced they must have several big stars, so they pay and pay (and hope).
Im almost positive the Clippers thought they had PG in contract checkmate, since all the reporting was that it was super important for him to live in LA. I think they always thought that they could strong arm him into a team friendly deal. They thought they had all the leverage till they had none…
That is a good point generally about where everyone is at with the Warriors: it depends on Kuminga turning fully elite and Wiggins returning to his 2021-22 form. If those two things happen, GSW will be a top 4 team next year. If you do not believe those two things can happen, then GSW is a borderline play-in team.
If you watch games, you see a lot happening with Kuminga’s game overall and how good his IQ is. It took Kerr forever to figure out to make Jon the #2 scorer behind Steph, he can do this and proved it over the last 30 or so regular season games. I want to see a full season of that, I believe in Jon and think this Warriors team is a legit sleeper team based off its depth alone. But Kuminga really might be Him. Wiggins might also be able to mentally lock in again now he has nothing preventing him from playing. Then there’s Steph’s absurdly clutch performances in the Olympic medal games proving he is still massively elite and probably the best player alive, still. Lots to like here even if no outside superstar is en route, if you are a Warriors fan, tbh.
Hawk-tuah on that thang Davey!
What?
Dont do drugs, kids.
That’s your expertise Washington-boner
Nice one!
Let’s see if the rumors are true and warriors get Jimmy Butler…