Curry, Green say this isn’t the Warriors’ “Last Dance” despite loss to Lakers

LOS ANGELES — Steph Curry refused to believe it was over until the math just didn’t add up. After all he’s done on the playoff stage, how could you blame him?

Rui Hachimura had just eased past him into a layup to put the Lakers up 23 points with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 6. Curry kept pushing — at too many points in his career, he’s defied odds and won momentous games with little hope remaining. But reality overcame rational cockiness.

He and his teammates who’ve won four titles together had fallen into unfamiliar territory: Out of the playoffs before the Finals for the first time since 2014, the year of a first-round loss that taught Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson how to win together.

“Our worst season since 2014 and we still had a chance to make a run,” Green said.

The Warriors’ Big Three won’t count the dismal 2020 (worst record in league) or 2021 (knocked out in play-in) seasons because they weren’t competing together due to major injuries. That’s because despite this unexpected series loss to L.A., the targets on their backs and the miles on their mid-30s legs, the core still sees itself as the ones to beat.

“The trust that we’re all going to compete until the wheels fall off,” Curry said. “That’s something that should not be taken for granted in this league.”

Much has been made of the Warriors’ dynasty ending with a playoff loss. That chatter only got louder as the 2022 championship vibes were quickly ruined when video leaked of Green punching young Jordan Poole in training camp. Then an 0-5 road record to start the season spiraled into a disjointed mess of unexplained extended absences, costly injuries and an an uncomfortable truth that the non-core players weren’t producing or getting opportunities to reach the level needed.

Coach Steve Kerr said the Warriors lost to L.A. because they were “maxed out.” That’s because the Warriors didn’t have any role player’s step up like the did in 2022 — their bench mob was outplayed by Lakers Austin Reeves and Lonnie Walker IV. They didn’t win a road playoff game for the first time in 29 series. The dynastic trio couldn’t use their playoff magic to erase the regular season woes.

“It felt like we were swimming upstream from the beginning,” Kerr said.

Underlying the turbulent season, and perhaps the big punch, was tension surrounding the core’s future. If the Warriors weren’t competitive, it would warrant a breaking up of the Big Three. Is a second-round exit enough to keep the team together? The Warriors are able to afford the $370 million ($200 million on salary, $170 million on luxury tax penalties) they spent this year, but are pushing their limits. There’s a growing expectation that some payroll pruning is necessary to avoid going into the red.

Green has a player option worth $27.6 million. He can opt in and sign an extension, opt-out and sign an extension or opt-out and sign elsewhere with the cap space. Green has made clear he wants to stay with the Warriors — but if another contender offers money the cap-restricted Warriors refuse to, he may move on.

“I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life,” Green said. “I want to ride out with the same dudes I rode in with.”

Then there’s Thompson, who is extension eligible at the tail-end of a five-year, $189.9 million contract next season. If the Warriors want to cut costs, he may have to take a significant pay cut. The question is if the 32-year-old will be willing if other, bigger offers come rolling in.

After a disappointing season, change is needed. To keep the Big Three together, they may have to make changes on other parts of the roster.

Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and the rest who either regressed or never came into the frame, either because of coaching decisions or performance, could be pieces the Warriors move to retool the roster around the Big Three.

Before the season began, Curry sat down with this news organization to discuss the perception that this 2023 season would be “The Last Dance” — a final season of a dynasty in the vein of Micheal Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. He offered this:

“We hope that the end is when we don’t win,” Curry said in October. “That should be the end, when there’s a sense that we’re not a championship contending team. We know it’s not guaranteed to win a championship. When we know we’re a team that can legitimately win championships then you make certain decisions. We haven’t been in that situation.”

The Warriors might have lost to the Lakers in the second round, but they still believe this is a core that can still win championships for years to come. This may be the end to a title-defending season. But in the wake of its bitter end comes a reminder that the Warriors shouldn’t take for granted a trio that still knows how to win.

“This was not a championship group,” Green said. “But we have champions.”