Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Friday, October 13th.
No. 5: Stephen Curry
2022 NBArank: 5
Why his ranking was unchanged: For the third straight year, Curry is ranked No. 5. He led the NBA in 3-pointers made for the third straight season, doing everything he could do to help his team stay afloat, but the group’s struggles and chemistry issues were too much for Curry to overcome by himself. Curry also suffered two different injuries that limited the two-time MVP to 56 games.
For those who’ve followed Paul’s career, saw the years of charity work, the humility he can turn on in a blink, and his emphasis on family, this side of him isn’t foreign. But it has felt revelatory in the Warriors’ ecosystem, where Paul was always a villain. They marvel at how he recently took a 6 a.m. flight from Los Angeles so he could work out with Stephen Curry the one day No. 30 was in town. And how Paul joined the San Quentin trip of his own volition. No one solicited his participation. He got the internal email about it like everyone else and signed up.
This is how he’s approached his entire Warriors experience thus far — all in. He’s been fully invested in ingratiating himself with his new fellowship.
The team has responded to Paul in kind, especially the trio of future Hall of Famers. What’s been evident so far is how much he fits in the culture.
Dario Saric: “You’re gonna do everything in that moment to get Steph open. My mindset helps me to fit with the team… This is a high-level IQ team.” pic.twitter.com/IZq523QQbj
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) October 11, 2023
But after the Warriors’ first playoff meeting with their Northern California neighbors in Sacramento in the opening round of the 2023 Western Conference playoffs, Green doesn’t have an issue labeling future Kings matchups as a rivalry.
“The reason I’m cool with that word being used is because there is a NorCal thing there,” Green told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Zena Keita on the latest “Dubs Talk,” which debuted Thursday. “The Bay and Sacramento being so close, so different yet so similar. You have areas along the way that could kind of pick the Bay and could kind of pick Sacramento, where their [fandom] would go.
“So taking all of those things into account, then you add in [Kings owner] Vivek [Ranadivé], who was a minority owner here before he outright bought the Kings. [Kings coach] Mike [Brown]. Mike B has won championships with us. You start adding those things to it and it becomes all the more special. So that one I would not say what I would say about most people when they say ‘rivals.’ That’s actually a thing that’s bigger than basketball.”
Jonathan Kuminga is questionable to play tomorrow with his jammed thumb. Will be determined after shootaround.
— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) October 12, 2023
Cory Joseph and Rodney McGruder are out.
The entire night is themed around Klay, so patrons can expect Klay-inspired activities as much as great food. There is slated to be a paper plane building station for those wanting to emulate Klay’s postgame press conferences, as well as a bulldog soiree to honor Klay’s dog Rocco, who is just as much a Bay Area icon as Klay. Off the Grid plans to provide captain’s hats, just like Klay donned in the 2022 championship parade, to celebrate his love of boating. Even a Klay Thompson look-alike contest is scheduled for toward the end of the night. If that’s not enough, the event is slated to feature a raffle giving away two lower-bowl Warriors tickets to an upcoming home game.
Klay is not expected to be in attendance, as he should be in Los Angeles, where the Warriors face off against the Lakers in their second preseason game. But that’s OK. We can bond over his quirks.
League officials admit that part of the push is the ongoing negotiations over a new national TV contract that will be worth billions of dollars, but they also say it’s bad business to put an inferior product on the floor.
“We don’t need our TV partners to tell us that when teams sit players and when players don’t try at an All-Star Game that makes for worse competition,” Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball strategy said on Wednesday. “It’s incredibly obvious to us, and ultimately we’re trying to serve fans. Yes, it’s the case that because we’re negotiating TV deals in the next year or two here, it takes on even greater importance because we’re in the middle of those conversations.
“But we can self-identify that these were issues that needed addressing independent of any outside (influence).”
The NBA on Thursday fined Brooks $25,000 for “recklessly making contact” with Indiana Pacers center Daniel Theis in the groin area on Tuesday, leading to his ejection in the preseason matchup.
Brooks was tossed 4:33 into his first game with the Rockets, with whom he signed with as a free agent this offseason, for the flagrant foul 2 on Theis.
But this game has some extra intrigue as Golden State’s bench needs precious minutes to round into form. Kuminga (questionable) showed flashes of being a dominant player in the first contest, while Moses Moody, Gary Payton II, and Dario Saric are the kind of pieces that can absolutely come in and give impact minutes when their number is called.
Klay had the Jenga set wobbling pic.twitter.com/XsqyguvaYh
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 12, 2023
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