Bill Simmons thinks the Golden State Warriors have officially hit the âtoo old for thisâ stage. On a recent episode of âThe Bill Simmons Podcast,â he and Kirk Goldsberry used Golden State as the cautionary tale for how young, big, deep teams like the Thunder, Nuggets and Rockets are taking over the West â and even floated a Jonathan Kuminga-for-center fake trade to keep the Warriors alive.
Simmons flat-out said the Warriors have turned into a âDanny Glover in Lethal Weaponâ team â âtoo old for this [stuff]â â and worried that they simply canât survive in a West now dominated by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets. In his words, everything has to be perfect for Golden State: Stephen Curry has to be awesome, Jimmy Butler III has to be incredible, and thereâs no margin for error on either end.
The Thunder, meanwhile, have reached the point where Simmons is shocked when they lose. Goldsberry added that OKC, Denver and Houston are playing three totally different styles, but all of them share a theme that should terrify Golden State: size, length and relentlessness.
Goldsberry: League Has Gotten Bigger While Warriors Shrunk
Goldsberry pointed out that this isnât 2015 anymore. Back then, the Warriors could go small, spread the floor and still control the glass with someone like Andrew Bogut anchoring their defense.
Now? Teams like Houston are starting massive lineups, hoarding offensive rebounds and breaking offensive records without even bombing threes. Oklahoma City is young, huge and sitting at the top of the defensive metrics. Denver has Nikola Jokic as the best offensive hub in basketball.
Simmonsâ concern is that Golden State just canât match the physicality. He talked about the Warriors giving up too many offensive rebounds, getting almost no second-chance points of their own and needing surgical offensive possessions just to keep up. He compared it to the end of Tom Bradyâs Patriots run: one tipped pass or one drop, and the whole drive falls apart.
The roster construction only heightens the concern. The Warriors are leaning heavily on 30-somethings, asking them to bang with frontcourts built around Jokic, Alperen Sengun, Steven Adams and all the long athletes in Oklahoma City. Over an 82-game season, plus the playoffs, thatâs a punishing ask.
The Kaminga Question and the âGafford Tradeâ Idea
That led Simmons to the part that matters most for Warriors fans: should Golden State flip Jonathan Kuminga for a real center?
On the podcast, he floated a three-team construction in spirit, not as a sourced rumor: Kuminga to Chicago, Kobe White to a third team that needs a guard, and a starting-caliber center like Daniel Gafford heading to Golden State. The idea is simple:
- Draymond Green doesnât have to live at center all year.
- The Warriors get a vertical rim runner who can protect the paint and clean the glass.
- Curry and Butler get a reliable pick-and-roll partner instead of constantly playing five-out and hoping.
Goldsberry agreed with the core premise: when the Warriors have had their most success, theyâve had a traditional five they trust. Right now, thatâs the one archetype theyâre missing while the rest of the conference is super-sized.
None of this means Golden State is doomed. Curry is still elite. Butler brings a two-way edge they didnât have last year. Steve Kerr usually squeezes every bit out of his rotation.
But listening to Simmons and Goldsberry, itâs hard to escape the takeaway: in a Western Conference where OKCâs kids are chasing 70 wins and bigs are back in style, the Warriorsâ next big move probably has to involve exactly that â a big.
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