Not since the 2017-18 season have the Golden State Warriors and their fans known what it felt like to be without Stephen Curry. In March of that season is when he suffered a grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee, forcing him to miss 16 games, including all of the Warriors' opening round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. The difference then though, was that Steve Kerr's team had Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson to fall back on to pick up the slack.
It is what will make the foreseeable future for the Warriors so much different, and a lot more gloomy this time around, with Curry having suffered a broken left hand last night against the Phoenix Suns.
This scoring onus will no longer fall into the laps of Durant or Thompson, who welcomed the burden with open arms, making it so that the Warriors never skipped a beat without their number one gunner. Instead, it will fall into the hands of D'Angelo Russell, the now 1-time all star who will have the keys to the offense just like he had in Brooklyn. The 2015 2nd overall pick, who is averaging 16.2 points so far this year, will get to prove his worth as an all-star player who has the capabilities to be a perennial one for years to come. It will be fun to watch him battle the league's top point guards who reside in the West for multiple games versus just the two times he faced them as an Eastern Conference foe.
The other impact this trade has for the Warriors is that it will enhance the role of Draymond Green to one that we have yet to see from him in his NBA career.
A three-time all star, former Defensive Player of the Year and three-time all defensive team member, Green has been able to fit a niche role throughout his career of providing his team with energy, rebounding, being able to get guys looks, and hitting the open three when called upon. That role with now increase tenfold though, as he'll need to be more of a play initiator, and create looks for himself versus for others. His highest points per game average of his career is 14.0 - in 2015-16 - the year the Cleveland Cavaliers came back fro a 3-1 Finals deficit, and the summer where Durant joined the Warriors.
On that team, though, Green fit nicely as the third option behind Curry and Thompson, who averaged 30.1 and 22.1. With Curry out now, there will be no 52 points per game that will be scored amongst a duo so that Green can hone in on the little things and get his. In all honesty, he and Russell right now are that duo that will need to lead and carry, just as Curry and Thompson have done.
It will be interesting to see how Green adjusts to that role, and how Russell leads them forward.
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