Over the past five seasons, the Golden State Warriors have spoiled basketball fans across their kingdom. Now, in 2019, starting the first 17 games with the league’s worst record, it’s a different, almost new feeling when watching the Warriors.
Older fans who followed Golden State’s struggles for decades leading to the arrival of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson might have some words of wisdom when it comes to dealing with a losing team.
However, the once prideful mentality of supporting a lovable loser ended when the team cracked off seven winning seasons with five trips to the finals and three of them finishing in championships. The new era of Golden State Warriors’ brand of basketball has become synonymous with victory.
2019 is new territory for most involved with Golden State, including the players, coaches, and even the families, who are used to the team being perennial winners.
In a recent interview with Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Green shared a story about running into one of the Curry children in the team’s family room after a loss. Curry’s oldest daughter Riley, is the latest searching for answers during the Warriors down season.
“The other day, I was getting them out of the family room after the (Celtics) game and Riley Curry was in there,” Green says of Curry’s oldest daughter. “She’s like: ‘Did we lose?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, Riley, we lost.’ She’s like: ‘Why do we keep losing?”
Although it’s just an innocent question from a seven-year-old, it’s a glimpse into the magnitude of change going on within Golden State.
Curry’s oldest daughter was born in 2012, since then, Golden State’s winning percentage in the regular season was .731, now fast forward to this year, and that percentage looks a whole lot different standing at .176— the worst of the Steve Kerr era.
Similar to Riley, winning in basketball is all Green knows. The Saginaw, Michigan product had a strong high school basketball career leading to run at Michigan State under Tom Izzo, filled with Final Four appearances and Big Ten championships. The same can be said for coach Kerr, another who’s been surrounded by winning over his career.
Kerr played in a Final Four himself at Arizona before winning five championships as a player, and three as a coach.
As much as 2019 has turned into an evaluation year for young players, it’s also a learning experience for Kerr and Green. The decorated duo’s response to an outlier season filled with blowout losses could have an impact on 2020 and beyond.