Rick Barry predicts Stephen Curry and co will be a tough playoff exit for top NBA teams: "You don't want to play them" (Exclusive)
The Golden State Warriors have labored through inconsistency (12th place in the Western Conference). Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have experienced both slumps and diminished roles. And Draymond Green served two costly suspensions. Still, former Warriors legend Rick Barry argues the Warriors’ championship fabric remains sturdy.
“They’re a team that you don’t want to play,” Barry told Sportskeeda. “If you’re one of the top teams in the league, you don’t want to play the Warriors.”
Stephen Curry has still played at an elite level. Jonathan Kuminga has further emerged as a young player. And Thompson, Wiggins and Green have all shown signs they can return back to form. As Barry forewarned, “don’t write them off.”
Rick Barry Exclusive (part 2)
In part two of an exclusive interview, Barry spoke with Sportskeeda about his optimism about the Warriors’ playoff potential, why he enjoys coaching in the Big 3 and how he has excelled in the pickleball circuit.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been condensed and edited.
What’s your outlook on how the Warriors will manage after the All-Star break following their various ups and downs?
Rick Barry:
“I’m optimistic because they had all of the craziness that went on in the first half of the season with the suspension [Green] and two of their key players having a rollercoaster ride (Thompson, Wiggins] and playing below their norms. Yet, they still managed to play pretty good ball. They should not have lost to the Clippers [before the All-Star break]. But they still got themselves back to where they’re a playoff-contention team. They haven’t played their best basketball by any stretch of the imagination. But they also lost eight games by three points or fewer that could have easily gone the other way. Despite all of that craziness, don’t write them off. Everybody wrote them off a couple of years ago when they won the championship [in 2022]. I actually think this team is a little bit better, skill-wise, than they were a few years ago.”
What path can they take given they still have Steph, Draymond and Klay?
Rick Barry:
“They’re a team that you don’t want to play. If you’re one of the top teams in the league, you don’t want to play the Warriors because they are liable to be somewhere in that five, six, seven or eight area. You don’t know. Maybe they are better than that. If they did, that would be fantastic. But if I am one, two three or four and I have to play against the Warriors if they make it as five, six, seven or eight, I’m telling you right now that I would be concerned (laughs). It’s the experience that they have. They have seasoned guys that have been involved and have been a part of championships. They know what it takes to win. That’s a big factor.”
I also wanted to catch up on what’s keeping you busy these days. What have you thought about coaching in the Big 3?
Rick Barry:
“I’ve had fun doing that. But I am disappointed because my team hasn’t even gotten to the playoffs. We came close last year, but we had some injuries and everything. But it’s not like I get to pick my players and draft my players. I have to coach the players that the captain decides to choose. But they finally changed the rule. I have a say on one player now in the draft that I can pick a player that I want. Maybe the captain doesn’t want it, but I can pick that player. That might help a little bit. But it’s been fun to go and see Dr. J [Julius Erving], Gary Payton and a lot of the guys that I played against that are still involved with it. I get to see Michael Cooper and all of the people that have been coaches. I helped Nancy Lieberman and introduced her to them, and they wound up giving her a coaching opportunity and Lisa Leslie as well. I know Lisa Leslie well because my wife [Lynn] ran women’s basketball for USA, and Lisa was always on those great teams. I was always there with them watching them win gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships."
"It's always fun to see a lot of those people and give guys an opportunity to continue playing the sport that they love. I can see why Cube [Ice Cube] was for it. To he and Jeff Kwatinetz’s credit, they have kept it alive and it’s moving forward. They brought in another chief operating officer that was a big honcho at Taco Bell [former CEO Mark King]. But hopefully they’ll have success and keep it going."
"It’s fun for me because it keeps me around the game that I love dearly. But I still hate losing. It’s been difficult for me to be on the losing end of things and not get in the playoffs and have a chance to win. But it’s still fun to do. It does screw up my fishing in the summertime. I can’t go on any extended fishing trip because I have to be available every weekend. But that’s okay. I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”
Do you plan to coach next season?
Rick Barry:
“I just found out they’re going to have me coaching again. I’m trying to reach out to Leandro Barbosa, who is my team captain and find out what’s going on and figure out what we’re going to do as far as personnel. We’ll probably have Jodie Meeks, who shot the hell out of it last year. He’s coaching in the NBA now, too [with the Birmingham Squadron G League team]. He’ll be one of the co-captains, but he has to decide who he wants to give the second co-captain opportunity to. Jeff Ayres was the guy we had last year, but we had DaJuan Summers. He was a really nice player for us. I don’t know if [Leandro] wants to give him the other co-captain [role], or try to get one of these younger guys that is retiring from the league that still wants to play. We can get some younger legs and somebody that could be a nice addition to the team. We’ll see what happens. It’ll be fun. I really do enjoy it a lot.”
What else is keeping you busy these days?
Rick Barry:
“I’m also doing stuff with three different companies. Readers can put a code on the Web site for a nice discount. Medici Leaf is a cannabinoid company and has unbelievable products. The other one is Aloe MD. The product is ‘Ultimate Repair X.’ It works amazingly well and is incredible. The third thing is ‘Go Sleeves.’ They have kinesio tape built into these sleeves. It’s unbelievable. I never play pickleball without them. They’re absolutely fabulous, and they’re good with recovery as well. A lot of football players are starting to use them. A lot of the runners are going crazy. It’s a hell of a product. It really is. So for all of those three things, if people put in the code: ‘rb24,’ they will get a really nice discount on any of those products. I use my sleeves every time. I played pickleball [recently], and I wore them. I also use the other products as well to help my back. I lifted a rock and it strained my back after I had retired. It has never been the same. But I use that for that and any other ailments, pulled muscles and inflammation.”
How are you as a pickleball player?
Rick Barry:
“I’m a world champion and a U.S. Open pickleball champion. I’m a USA pickleball national champion in mixed doubles and men’s doubles. I’m going to play singles this year for the first time in my age and skill category. I’m going to try to win the triple crown in the three major tournaments – U.S. Open in April, the Huntsman World Senior Games in October and USA pickleball nationals in November. I’ve won gold medals in those tournaments for the last few years. Now I’m going to try singles. I think I have a chance. I think I can do it without beating up my knees too badly. I’ve really worked at it. I have gotten to the point now that my serve now is definitely a weapon. I have a really good serve. That is critical for playing singles. I’m excited about that. The equipment that I use is with Selkirk. I’m using the new Selkirk Luxx Paddle. It’s been awesome. I’ve had great success with them. I’m hoping to win the Triple Crown.”
What does it mean to you that you can still stay physically active?
Rick Barry:
“You got to be. You got to have goals. When I retired, people asked me if I missed playing. I said, ‘No.’ People looked strangely at me. I said, ‘No because I don’t think about it.’ Why would I want to think about the fact that I will never play the sport that I love so much and cared so much about, and I’ll never be able to do that again?’ I didn’t think about it, so I had to find something else. I found golf long driving. I could always hit the ball pretty far. Somebody got me to get into doing that. I should’ve won more. But I won four world long driving championships in different age categories. Then they got rid of all of the old-timers divisions."
"So I couldn’t compete there anymore. I said, ‘What am I going to do now?’ My wife said, ‘Why don’t you try pickleball?’ I had played tennis, and was a pretty good tennis player. But tennis was too hard on my body. It was beating me up a lot. So I said, ‘Okay, what is pickleball?’ I found out what it was and gave it a shot and tried it. I fell in love with it and trained for two years. I didn’t want to play in any tournaments until I felt I was good enough to be able to be good at it. That’s the same thing with fly fishing. That’s a new thing that I do. But I didn’t go bone fishing because everybody told me. ‘If you’re going to bone fish, you better learn how to cast and double haul. If you can’t cast well, you’re not going to be able to cast any fish.’ I spent a couple of years working on my fly fishing to the point where I could cast and catch the fish. That’s the way I approached pickleball. A 50-year-old guy a couple of years ago called me up and asked, ‘Do you want to play in this new tournament?’ They had this new facility and a big new tournament going on at Punta Gorda, Fla. I said, ‘Yeah, are you sure you want to play with me?’ I told my wife, ‘Honey, I made it.’ She said, ‘What are you talking about; you made it?’ I said, ‘I made it because someone asked me to play in a major tournament, and he wants to win. He hates losing. If he didn’t think I was good enough, he would never have asked me.’ It was really good for him to ask me. We wound up winning the tournament. I was playing in my 70s and he was playing in his 50s. I was playing 50-year-olds , and we won. That was kind of cool. It’s a great sport."
"I’m also doing stuff with Pickleball Connections. We have 5,000 or more people that are a part of that. Members have an opportunity to get discounts on products. We also have a new thing coming out soon that will be very interesting. That’s called Picklezone. We’ll see how that turns out. That gives people an opportunity to play and participate in events and get tokens. You can use the tokens to get other opportunities. It's pretty cool.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.