30 reasons for excitement with 30 days to go

It’s almost here!

There are 30 days until the Golden State Warriors begin the 2024-25 NBA season. So here are 30 things I’m excited to watch this year. After all, 30 is kind of an important number in Warriors land.

1. It’s Warriors basketball! Isn’t that, in and of itself, worth being excited about? You get to watch, at minimum, 82 games of your favorite basketball team. Sure, they might frustrate and anger you from time to time, but it’s still half a year watching your favorite team play the greatest sport ever invented. Which is doubly important if the Niners keep playing like this.
2. Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis taking sophomore leaps. Both players dramatically outperformed expectations last year, with Podziemski being an easy All-Rookie selection, and TJD being the last man out. Most encouragingly, both players found their success in ways that are not just sustainable, but give them something to build off of. Sometimes a player’s rookie success looks like an outlier, but it’s pretty easy to project a whole lot of growth for these two.
3. Jonathan Kuminga blossoming into a star. Stars are made, not born, and they’re rarely predestined. So it’s still entirely possible that Kuminga will never reach his enormously-high ceiling. But he sure showed last year that he could be an All-Star ... or something even greater.
4. Thunderous dunks from Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins. Kinda speaks for itself, doesn’t it? What more could you want than two of the best athletes in the league flying high and trying to break the rim off the backboard?
5. A chance to shock the world ... again. The Warriors shocked the world when they won their 2015 title. In 2017 and 2018 it was more expected, but they shocked the world again in 2022. Could they make it three times of dramatically outperforming industry expectations?
6. Christmas day showdown. Warriors. Lakers. Steph Curry. LeBron James. Draymond Green. Anthony Davis. Christmas day. If that doesn’t excite you, then what are you doing here?
7. Big men raining threes. The Warriors used their second-round pick on Quinten Post, a 7-footer who shot 42.9% from deep during his junior and senior seasons at Boston College. That’s a wrinkle to the Warriors offense that we haven’t seen much of!
8. Make that two of them. Also, Kevon Looney is apparently hard at work in the lab, getting an NBA-ready three-point shot. Could we see the debut of that this season?
9. A revamped offense. The Dubs’ offense could use a little bit of freshening up, and here comes Terry Stotts just in time. The new assistant coach was the mastermind behind a Portland Trail Blazers offense that routinely outperformed its personnel. He won’t rework Golden State’s motion offense, but he will revamp it.
10. Threes on threes on threes. Klay Thompson may be gone, but the Warriors still have Curry and Podziemski, and now the’ve added Buddy Hield to the fold (to make no mention of Post!). It should be another season with a whole lot of three-pointers.
11. TJD above the rim. Last year we got to see a plethora of lobs and rim-running screen-and-rolls once Jackson-Davis entered the rotation. Expected a steady stream of those. It’s something that had been sorely missing from the offense, and I’m so happy to have it back.
12. Draymond Green, still defensively elite. Green’s days of winning DPOY are probably behind him, and his days of making the All-Defense team might be, too. But that doesn’t change the fact that on any given night he’s still the best defensive player alive. His instincts and intelligence are still second-to-none, and it’s a true delight watching him patrol the court.
13. Angry Steve Kerr. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it sure is entertaining when it does. Let it out, coach!
14. Klay Thompson’s return. We don’t have to wait long to see Klay again. The Dubs welcome the Dallas Mavericks to town on November 12, just the 11th game of the season. The ovation that Thompson will get, in his first game against the Warriors, will be thunderous ... and bring a tear to my eye.
15. Championship memories. This season marks 10 years since the Warriors dynasty first began, in Kerr’s debut season with the club. It was a magical year that kicked off a magical run. The Warriors will probably wait until more players are retired to do a full-on reunion celebrating the 2015 championship, but you can expect to hear a lot of stories, and watch a lot of highlights from that season as the year goes on.
16. Role players extraordinaire. I’ve long been a big fan of both De’Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson, so imagine my delight when the Warriors signed them both in free agency. They’re the perfect role players for this offensive and defensive scheme, and it will be a joy watching them thrive.
17. Buddy Hield unlocked. Hield has been a little underused with his teams in recent seasons. I expect that to change this year. He’s clearly motivated, and a great fit for this offense. Plus, he’s never played next to someone like Curry, whose gravity should completely open the floor for Hield.
18. Draymond Green at peace. One of my favorite storylines from the disappointing 2023-24 season was Green after he returned from his indefinite hiatus in which he attended counseling. He looked at peace, calm, and both physically and mentally healthy. He still had the fire that he needs to thrive in the NBA game, but it felt more purposeful and healthy. I’m hoping that bleeds into this next year, for his sake and the team’s sake. But...
19. Draymond Green’s vendettas. Let’s hope there are no rear-naked chokes or punches thrown this year from Green. As long as that’s the case, I look forward to the handful of random NBA players that he chooses to mock and antagonize, often for no apparent reason. It’s always hilarious (when it’s not violent).
20. Andrew Wiggins comeback. I probably don’t need to spell out for anyone how disappointing last season was for Wiggins. I know it. He knows it. You know it. Everyone knows it. Hopefully the rumors that the Warriors were aggressively shopping Wiggins this offseason are fuel for him, rather than something that rattles his confidence.
21. Charles Barkley doubting the Warriors and then immediately getting humbled. Chuck has forgotten more about basketball than I will ever know. But he’s about as good at accurately predicting what will happen to the Warriors as he was at winning championships during his playing days.
22. Crowds and players in disbelief. One of my favorite moments of the offseason came when Curry was on fire during the Olympics, and the internet was full of fans from other teams basically echoing a sentiment: “I get why Warriors fans are so arrogant now.” There are few things that compare to watching Curry do something straight out of a video game, sucking the life out of the opposing arena, and making countless NBA players slump their shoulders in both disbelief and forfeiture. A little Warriors exceptionalism never hurt anyone.
23. Some new Fitz nicknames. Love him or hate him, Bob Fitzgerald has become synonymous with Warriors basketball, and his enthusiasm and love of the team are infectious. Fitz is always good for a few new nicknames for players each year, and with a whole host of new Dubs, you can expect quite a few new alliterative monikers to come through your TV set.
24. Draymond Green being a release valve. Few plays in NBA history have been as successful — or reliable — as the Curry-Green pick-and-roll. But what I love even more is the Draymond release valve, which sometimes happens as a result of the pick-and-roll, and sometimes occurs more naturally. The defense uses two defenders to try to trap Curry, who works further and further from the hoop, then acrobatically finds a way to get the ball to Green, who is now left unguarded 25-30 feet from the hoop. Green gets a load of momentum barreling down the middle like prime Frank Gore, and the Dubs get a four-on-three. It’s usually successful, and it’s always fun.
25. Jerry Stackhouse! Stotts has gotten more press than Stackhouse, given his long run as a successful NBA coach. But the addition of Stackhouse to the bench is an exciting one, and it will be a lot of fun seeing the two-time All-Star coaching up the Dubs.
26. Rumors galore. Few teams generate as many rumors as the Warriors do. Part of it is because the team has a foot in both the “contending” door and the “rebuilding” one. But mainly it’s because the team — led by Joe Lacob — always believes they can pull off the “light years” move, which admittedly they did when they landed Kevin Durant. It’s that mentality that led to the Dubs inquiring with the Lakers about a LeBron trade at this year’s deadline, and again in the offseason. They tried like hell to trade for Paul George to start the offseason, even though it never seemed possible that the LA Clippers would entertain a deal with Golden State. They worked so hard in a failed attempt to acquire Lauri Markkanen, and rumors have swirled about Jimmy Butler. Just this week, a rumor made the internet rounds that the Warriors were intent on making a trade this season for James, Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Joel Embiid. Now, one only needs a shred of common sense to know that such rumors are completely absurd, but they follow the Warriors around, and they will continue to do so. Brace yourself! On that note...
27. A trade, or trades. It seems inevitable that the Warriors will make a trade at some point this year, though it might happen before the season begins. There’s the aforementioned desire to trade for a big-name player. There’s something of a minutes logjam with Wiggins, Kuminga, Anderson, and Gui Santos, and also with Podziemski, Hield, Melton, Moses Moody, and Lindy Waters III. The Dubs might just have too many players deserving of minutes, and try to find a way to turn two or three of them into one better one. And there’s always a good chance of a small salary dump at the deadline.
28. Clarity for Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga. Moody and Kuminga are about to enter the fourth and final year of their rookie deals. Which means they’re eligible for extensions, which would need to be signed before opening night. Those extensions seem unlikely, but as the year goes on, we’ll get some clarity on them. If Moody and Kuminga don’t sign extensions, they’ll enter restricted free agency next offseason. As the year progresses, we’ll get a feel for how much money those two will command ... and whether the Warriors seem committed to paying it.
29. Draymond Green yelling “and one!” after every layup. It’s one of the greatest things that has ever made it through the broadcast. The camera mics seem to catch it every single time and it makes me laugh every single time.
30. Steph Curry. Do I really need to explain this one?