Steph Curry Got Brutally Honest About Warriors’ Failures After Play-In Loss to Suns

Steph Curry got honest about the Warriors’ contending hopes after getting eliminated by the Suns in the NBA play-in tournament. | Screengrab on Twitter/ @jinthirty

Four seasons after winning his fourth NBA title with the Warriors, Steph Curry is back to where he started: the very beginning.

Curry and the Warriors got knocked out by the Suns in Friday night’s play-in tournament game in a result that probably dealt Golden State the kinder of two fates. (The winner of the game will play the No. 1-seeded Thunder in the first round of the playoffs). No longer the dynastic contender of years past, the Warriors’ shortcomings were on full display in their 111–96 loss to the Suns, and Curry himself admitted Golden State had some soul-searching to do to get back to becoming a competitive basketball team.

Following the Warriors’ play-in loss, Curry got honest about the team’s hopes to contend in the future and spoke broadly about what it will take for Golden State to re-enter the title conversation.

“I’ve only been in one locker room for the last 17 years, and before you win the title, there were only those first two years where you’re building the foundation for what a championship team looks like, even though you had no idea what that really meant,” Curry said. “Then you accomplish it, then everything else is based off of that, and it’s been that way since 2015. So I think we can reshape the narrative, like knowing in the back of our mind that is the ultimate goal, but we have to get back to the basics of what makes a good, competitive basketball team every single night.

“Understand how, realize how hard it is to win in this league, but can we rethink how we do things with the foundation that we’ve established? We don’t have to keep saying championship, championship, championship every day, even though we’ve experienced that.

“It’s can we just build the foundation again with what this team needs to do, with the way that the game is played now, how fast it is, how young and athletic it is. All of those things, we have to kind of put everything on the drawing board to get back to just being competitive every single night.”

Steph Curry says the Warriors have to get back to the basics of what makes a good, competitive basketball team next season:

“I’ve only been in one locker room for the last 17 years, and before you win the title, there were only those first two years where you’re building the… pic.twitter.com/6rHEOqpXR3

— aly ✶ (@jinthirty) April 18, 2026

In the wake of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson’s exits, the Warriors have been constantly reworking their formula, no longer possessing the championship DNA of their glory years. The last half decade has seen more disappointment than success: after the team’s title-winning 2021–22 campaign, they’ve bowed out of the postseason twice in the Western Conference semifinals and they’ve missed the playoffs twice altogether. In 2026, they placed 10th in the regular season standings and snuck into the play-in to salvage a single win, but even during their brief run, their fanbase tacitly knew they weren’t getting far with their current squad.

What’s next for Steph Curry, Warriors after play-in loss to Suns

Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr shared a moment late in the play-in tournament loss to the Suns. Will it be their last as a trio with Golden State? | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Curry’s lengthy reflections in his postgame presser only go to show how vulnerable the once-dominant Warriors organization is right now. The end is on the horizon for the 38-year-old Curry, who said Friday night he’d like to play for “multiple years” but missed a sizable chunk of this past season due to a knee injury. The four-time NBA champ played just 43 games in 2025, his lowest total since the 2019-20 season when he underwent hand surgery.

Neither coach Steve Kerr and Draymond Green, the last two pillars standing alongside Curry, have contract extensions with the team. And what of the rehabbing Jimmy Butler, newly acquired Kristaps Porziņģis, and returning Brandin Podziemski, who’s eligible for an extension this summer?

Kerr, perhaps, summed it up best with his line to Curry and Green in a huddle at the end of the Warriors’ loss: “I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I love you guys.”

Kerr later elaborated on his special moment with the Warriors’ OGs and said while he isn’t sure what the future holds for him, he still holds dear his years-long relationship to Curry.

“I don’t want to walk away from Steph. I’m definitely not going and coaching somewhere else next year in the NBA,” Kerr said postgame. “… I would never walk away from Steph.”

For the last several seasons, Curry and Golden State’s ring-chasing attempts have come up painfully short. As Curry himself alluded to, something may have to change this offseason whether that pertains to coaching, roster construction or both.

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