The Washington Wizards embark on a six-game Western Conference road trip this week, beginning with a game at the Chase Center versus the Golden State Warriors. I’ve got you covered with all the storylines, stats, and notes you should know before tipoff.
The Warriors opened the season 12-3 and looked rejuvenated after fizzling out in the Play-In Tournament last year. However, a five-game losing streak dropped Golden State to 12-8, and they’ve lost more games than they’ve won ever since. The Warriors now sit at an even 20-20.
The Wizards are 6-33 and, as you are undoubtedly familiar, are firmly in the throes of the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. They have both the worst offense and the worst defense in the NBA this season. Call this matchup a stoppable force versus a movable object.
Golden State’s sputtering roster
Stephen Curry is still one of the league’s most electrifying players 16 years in, and his raw shooting ability is as game-breaking as ever. His scoring average, however, is down from almost four full points from last year to 22.9 per game.
A dip in scoring production is beyond understandable for a 36-year-old, but that doesn’t make it any less weird to see Curry lower on the NBA scoring leaderboard than names like Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, and Zach LaVine.
The rest of the Warriors roster is, frankly, insufficient to support Curry’s transition to the twilight of his career. The fact that Curry is fully healthy on a team with the 21st-ranked offense in the NBA is a travesty and really speaks to the Warriors’ offensive deficiencies.
Draymond Green is as brilliant a defender as ever — the Warriors are actually a top-10 defense this season — but he’s not exactly lighting it up offensively, per usual. Dennis Schroeder was acquired to free up the offense, but he’s shooting sub-35% from the field as a Warrior. Oh, by the way, do NOT ask a Warrior fan about Brandin Podziemski right now.
And right now Buddy Hield is in the midst of what’s colloquially known as the “Buddy Hield Cycle.”
Meet Buddy Hield Cycle! pic.twitter.com/olHmCGEbyV
— 𝓬 𝓱 𝓪 𝓼 𝓮 ✧ (@nflchxse) April 29, 2024
The Warriors are on the trade market
The Warriors are in a tough position where their most valuable trade asset, Jonathan Kuminga, happens to also be one of their best players. It would be hard to recoup value in a trade involving Kuminga that outweighs his production enough to even warrant a trade in the first place.
That being said, Golden State desperately needs a trade to dig the offense out of the mud (preferably one that does not involve Kuminga).
Two Chicago Bulls — Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic — are obvious targets, but the Warriors missed out on both players’ buy-low windows. They were both distressed assets heading into the season but have since played their way back into being positive-impact NBA players.
Cameron Johnson would be a perfect 3-and-D (mostly 3) addition to this Warriors roster, but he’s probably the single most coveted target on the trade market right now. I’d say he’s much more likely to end up on a team like the Detroit Pistons or Oklahoma City Thunder who have the flexibility to overpay and outbid teams like Golden State who need to be a little more conscious of their assets.
I would say the most likely big-name player for the Warriors to acquire is a New Orleans Pelican. I’m not sure which one, though. It seems like every player in the Big Easy is up for grabs right now, and just about all of them would help Band-Aid up the Warrior’s hurting offense (pun certainly intended with this specific group of players).
What should the Wizards do?
Luckily for the Warriors’ rusty offense, this Wizards defense is a fresh can of WD-40. This is a get-right game for Golden State, who dropped 4 of 5 games before squeaking out a win versus the Timberwolves.
That 5-game stretch included a loss to the then 8-31 Toronto Raptors, a double-digit loss to the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat, and a 30-point dismantling at the hands of the Sacramento Kings.
Obviously Curry will be launching threes, but Golden State should also focus the offense on challenging Washington’s bigs.
Jonas Valanciunas is no Dikembe Mutombo, and Alex Sarr projects as a great defender but still makes the types of mistakes you’d expect from a 19-year-old rookie; as such I would expect Curry to rack up a lot of points at the rim (and free throws) from being switched onto the Wizards’ bigs.
I mentioned in my last Bullet Points that I wanted to see Bilal Coulibaly spending some time guarding Devin Booker, and the same goes for Curry. I’d like to see Coulibaly get some valuable experience chasing Curry around screens and trying to contest uncontestable shots.
Valanciunas is a player to watch against the Warriors, as this game could double as a tryout. The Warriors are in dire need of both offense and size; Valanciunas provides a lot of size and a decent amount of offense on a tradeable contract.
Conclusions
It gets harder and harder every time I write to find a creative spin on relaying the information that the Wizards are unlikely to win. Perhaps Jordan Poole goes off against his former team or the Wizards are able to ride an uncharacteristically hot shooting night to a narrow win, but they’ve only won six games on the season for a reason.
Wizards at Warriors tip off at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
All stats are accurate as of noon on Friday, Jan. 17.