3 Burning questions for the Golden State Warriors heading into the offseason
The Golden State Warriors may be beaten finalists tonight, but they still remain the class of the NBA. If somebody had to place a bet NOW about the 2020 NBA title, they still remain the predominant favourites. Hungry as they have been, making championship runs year after year, this squad has proven time and time again that it remains a cut above the rest of the league at full strength.
A postseason that many people dismissed as a formality right at the start of the offseason took a sour turn right at the start when it seemed DeMarcus Cousins would be ruled out for the rest of the playoffs in Game 2 of their series against the Clippers. While Cousins made his comeback in the Conference Finals, the Warriors were struck a body blow with the loss of Kevin Durant to a calf injury in Game 5 of the semifinals against the Rockets.
While the guard-heavy Blazers did not pose that big a threat to the defending champions in the Conference Finals, the Raptors were a different breed to any threat the Warriors have seen in the past.
Their combination of guard depth and big man depth kept the Warriors fully engaged from all ends, and it was clear that without Kevin Durant, they were the inferior outfit of the two within the first 4 games of the series.
Let's take a look at the Warriors' 3 most burning questions entering the offseason:
#1 What kind of contract offer does Kevin Durant merit?
The Slim Reaper showed to the whole wide world in the first 11 games of the Warriors' playoffs that he merits being hailed as the best player in the world when fully fit. Full fitness, however, is now a thing of the past for the 30-year-old, who has been ruled out of the entirety of the 2019-20 NBA season by his team of doctors who finished a successful procedure on his Achilles the day following Game 5 of the Finals.
Can the Warriors afford to pay over and above the luxury tax for a player who will not be contributing till the fag end of the playoffs, if they manage to get there? Should Kevin Durant sign the last big contract of his career this summer, or should he opt into the final year of his current deal and secure his money for the upcoming year only?
These are questions that plague, not just the Warriors, but also KD himself as he tries to navigate through the most trying times of his professional career. In my opinion, it would make matters easier for all parties if KD were just to opt into the $30 million he's scheduled to make next season, play some ball and be fully fit and firing by the Olympics next year.