The Warriors’ three biggest overreactions to the first week of the 2024-2025 NBA season

The first week of the 2024-2025 season N.B.A The season has been quite a wild ride for the Warriors of the Golden State.

In their season opener against the Portland Trail Blazersshe set a new franchise record for the largest season-opening margin of victory with a 140-104 win.

In game two, the Dubs has made all kinds of NBA history after walling the Utah Jazz with a score of 127-86. Not only did Golden State become the first team to ever win the first two games of a season by 35 points or more, but its combined margin of victory of 77 points is also the largest in league history through the first two games.

In those two wins, the Warriors’ reserves accounted for a whopping 150 points — 70 against the Blazers and 80 against the Jazz — the most points scored by bench players in any team’s first two games since the contest. Elias Sports Agency started following such things in 1970.

Forty-nine of those points, of course, came from new signing Buddy Hield, who scored 22 against Portland and 27 against Utah. His point total is the most of any Warriors bench player in history through his first two games with the team, and his twelve three-pointers were the most of any player in his first two games with any team.

However, things did not go so smoothly for Steve Kerr’s side in their home opener last Sunday evening. They didn’t just lose to the Los Angeles Clippersshe also lost Stephen Curry from an ankle injury and backup point guard De’Anthony Melton from a back injury. Both will miss at least the next two games, both of which are against the New Orleans Pelicansand each will be reevaluated Friday.

So it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride again.

As things go these days with social media presence, obviously all kinds of things have been said about this team and many of its players so far. But come on, it’s only three games. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at some of the things that have happened this past week.

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With a 36-point win to open the season and a 41-point win in game two, it’s easy to get excited. And many Warriors fans did just that, with some claiming that Golden State was fully back after missing the playoffs a season ago after losing to the Sacramento Kings in the Play-In tournament.

But let’s put on the brakes for a moment, shall we?

Yes, it was exciting to see this new-look roster perform at such a high level in those two wins. But let’s get real here. Those wins came against two teams projected to finish at or near the bottom of the Western Conference.

Now, the Dubs had the Dallas Mavericks or the Denver Nuggets or the Minnesota Timberwolves that way we would look at things a little differently. But they didn’t.

When they played a halfway decent team in the Clippers, they lost. And that was a Clippers team without Kawhi Leonard. The bench also cooled in that loss, accounting for just 39 of Golden State’s 104 points. Hield also cooled off, making just three of 14 shots from the floor and just one of nine from beyond the arc on his way to eight points.

Look, this is a deep roster, one of the deepest Kerr has had from an overall standpoint, even without Klay Thompson. And I truly believe Golden State will surpass its 46 wins from a year ago. But let’s not call the Warriors a top contender in a loaded West until they’ve beaten better teams.

And if Curry’s injury costs him more games than the two he’s already going to miss, that will be a problem no matter how deep this roster is.

Kerr made an interesting lineup choice to open the season, opting to insert Andrew Wiggins at shooting guard, a position he hasn’t played much in the last seven years.

And so far it has been successful for the most part.

It’s no secret that Wiggins has struggled a bit over the past two years, which was clearly disappointing for Golden State fans who saw him earn his first trip to the NBA All-Star Game in 2021-2022 and play a big role in the Warriors. title run that season.

Then again, he looked pretty solid through the first three games of the year, shooting 55% from the floor (his career average is 45%) and a remarkable 57.9% from the three-point line (his career average is 35.6% ) . Wiggins currently leads the team with 19.7 points per game and has added 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per night.

What’s not to like about it?

But here’s the thing. One of the biggest issues with Wiggins throughout his career has been consistency. Timberwolves fans saw it for years, and Warriors fans have seen a lot of it over the past two seasons.

Wiggins has been great so far. But can he keep that up? That’s the concern here. Now no one can expect him to continue shooting like this. But as long as the drop-off isn’t too big, he could very well make a second trip to the All-Star Game. We simply need a larger sample size. And again, we’ll have to see it against better competition, although he did pace the Clips for 29 points.

It’s no secret that the Warriors tried to lure Lauri Markkanen away from the Jazz this season. However, there were several reports stating that Utah demanded that Brandin Podziemski be included in any trade, which Golden State apparently refused.

Naturally, talks stalled and Markkanen ultimately signed a five-year deal worth $238 million to remain in Salt Lake City.

And given Podziemski’s slow start, many Warriors fans are wondering if he was worth keeping.

The third-year guard was the only Warrior not to score against Portland. And while he rebounded well against the Jazz, hitting seven of 14 shots on his way to 15 points, he struggled against the Clippers, going just 2-for-8 from the floor and 0-for-5 from the far end the arch. only four points.

We hate to say it, but it’s only been three games. The organization clearly believes it has something special in Podziemski. And even though the situation isn’t ideal, he’s about to get his chance to prove it. With both Curry and Melton out of the lineup, the 21-year-old looks to become Golden State’s primary ballhandler and will likely see more shot opportunities as well.

The next few games obviously won’t define his season, but it will give Warriors fans a chance to see how he handles the pressure.