What Would A Warriors' "Last Dance" Look Like?
With apologies to the Heatles, the Golden State Warriors were the team of the 2010s. Three championships in four years, a 73-win season, and a near-threepeat that was derailed by injuries. Stephen Curry became the first unanimous MVP. Joe Lacob said the organization was light years ahead. Kevin Durant arrived...and then he departed. And the story isn’t even over yet! As long as Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are healthy, the Warriors will be formidable. But if the Warriors were to be canonized as one of the NBA’s most indelible teams, here’s what we’d want to see in the documentary.
The Origin Stories
How the Warriors came together itself is a pretty fascinating story. The Dubs were a historically moribund franchise who in some ways lucked into Curry because of the foolishness of the teams (looking at you, Timberwolves) ahead of them in the draft. A doc could start by diving into the organization’s relatively miserable past. We’d also have to see highlights of Curry going nuts at Davidson, what made the team want to draft Klay, and how Draymond became who Draymond is.
And Golden State was not lacking for characters outside its star trio. Andre Iguodala went from The Man in Philly to a supersub and eventual Finals MVP while being one of the most outspoken individuals in the game. Shaun Livingston worked his way back from a horrific knee injury to post up smaller guards at the start of every second quarter. Andrew Bogut was a former No. 1 pick with his own injury history who became a key piece in The Bay. And let’s not forget the Mark Jackson era, the David Lee injury that paved the way for Draymond, and Steve Kerr’s decision not to coach the Knicks. How this team even came to be is a rabbit hole of What Ifs, and all of that should be explored at length.
John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated
Steph’s Contract
While not as contentious as say, Scottie Pippen’s deal, an undeniable factor in the Warriors’ success (and ability to sign Durant) was the undermarket contract Curry played on after his rookie deal. The four-year, $44 million extension he signed in 2012 was the result of chronic ankle issues that were preventing him from reaching his potential. Just how bad were Curry’s ankles? Did he ever feel weird making so much less money as his peers during the start of the dynasty? In how many different ways did his low cap figure enable the Warriors to build the perfect team around him?
The Spurs Series
Two years before the Warriors became champs, they played a highly entertaining second-round series with the 2013 Spurs, a playoff run that foreshadowed what Golden State could become. Everyone remembers the class Spurs vs. Heat Finals, but Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, and Tony Parker had their hands full with Steph and Klay in the conference semis.
February 27, 2016
One of the best regular season games ever. In the midst of their 73-win season, the Dubs travel to OKC for a Saturday primetime game between two wildly talented squads. Durant and Russell Westbrook show why they’ll be a problem for the Warriors in the upcoming playoffs. But Curry ices the game in OT with one of the greatest shots ever, a pull-up three from just beyond halfcourt that seemingly almost gave Mike Breen a seizure as he tried to yell out “Bang!”
Somehow, this is ALSO the game in which Kerr and Green got into an incredibly heated argument at halftime, leading to a Lisa Salters report on ESPN about how security considered getting involved because of the intensity. Which brings us too…
The Green-Kerr Relationship
Are they close, or will there always be some level of distance between them? How has Kerr applied the lessons he learned from his mentors in dealing with Draymond? A lot has been written about Draymond and Kerr—particularly by Ethan Strauss—but hearing the involved parties discuss the relationship with the benefit of hindsight would still be rather intriguing.
Games 5–7 of the 2016 Finals
Everything changed once Klay said LeBron needed to get out of his feelings. What happens if Green isn’t suspended for a game? And how do the Warriors feel when they re-watch Game 7—if they ever have? You can’t do a Warriors doc without discussing the lowpoint, and the 2016 Finals remain endlessly fascinating.
What Did Joe Lacob Do with the Larry O’Brien Trophy?
Warriors owner Joe Lacob once heavily implied he did something sexual in nature with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. “I’ll leave it to the imagination,” Lacob told Haute Living. “We had a lot of fun with it.” Although viewer discretion may be advised, it would be nice to have some closure on this story.
The Personal Explosions
Basically every Steph game from 2016. Klay’s 37-point quarter. Klay’s 60 points in 29 minutes. You can’t tell the story of the Warriors without showing how frightening they were, especially on the nights when there was no earthly way to defend Steph or Klay.
John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated
The Entire Kevin Durant Saga
This is what we really want, right? Everything about Durant’s brief but action packed stint in The Bay. We’d want the people involved to discuss the entirety of the KD experience, from Draymond’s text after the 2016 Finals, to the pitch meeting, to the burner accounts, to Durant’s relationship with Steph, to his Achilles injury, to his departure, and everything in between. Would all the principle characters ever want to talk about this stuff? Who knows. But if there’s a common thread between the Bulls, Warriors, and all other great teams, it’s that the end is almost always messy. Golden State certainly isn’t done competing, but the Durant-version of the Warriors was a historic, singularly elite team that stood out in NBA history. That’s a three-year run that will never not be worth picking apart for NBA fans. The Dubs may not have had their actual last dance yet, but they’ve already made an unforgettable mark on basketball’s history.
