NBA Fraud Meter: What To Make of Bucks, Suns and Other So-Called Contenders

Stephen Curry and Jonathan KumingaJeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

It feels weird to say this about the dynastic Warriors who won four championships between 2015 and 2022, but that’s how inconsistent they’ve been all season.

Even after Tuesday’s win over the banged-up Miami Heat, Golden State is 5-7 in its last 12. Klay Thompson has had to adjust to a new role midseason (though he returned to the starting five on Tuesday) and is clearly past his prime. Draymond Green’s volatility cost him two extended suspensions this season. Chris Paul turns 39 in May. And though Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski have been better than expected, there are still stretches when they look like players in their early 20s.

More important than all of that, though, is that during the rare stretches in which Stephen Curry has played at a sub-star level, it’s been brutally obvious how over-reliant the Warriors are on him.

When Curry plays and shoots 40 percent or worse from the field, Golden State is 9-19.

Of course, shooting nights like that aren’t necessarily likely, especially when the pressure is on like it will be through the end of the season and into the play-in tournament. But one bad game, particularly in the one-and-done play-in, could end the Warriors’ campaign.

That would be a legitimately disastrous result for the team with the league’s highest payroll in 2023-24.

And even if they hold off the Rockets and hang onto 10th place, they’d have to win back-to-back road games against LeBron and then the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings or Phoenix Suns.

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