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When the 2019-20 NBA season began, no Golden State Warriors fan expected Steph Curry to only play five games. Even after he went down with a broken hand, and was ruled out for three months, no one expected Curry to only play five games.
No one expected Curry to only play four games with D’Angelo Russell, and when Russell was traded for Andrew Wiggins, no one expected Curry to only play one game with his new teammate.
But here we are. It’s been 49 days since the Warriors last played a game — a 131-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. And it’s been 13 days since the regular season was supposed to conclude.
The season has been suspended due to the coronavirus, and now we just hope for a resumption at some point during the summer. It’s clear that leagues are pushing to find ways to resume play, even if it means having all the teams play in one city, with no fans.
But if that happens, don’t expect to see the Warriors.
When the season was first suspended, the Warriors had already been eliminated from the playoffs, marking their first year since 2011-12 to miss the postseason. If the season resumes, it seems likely that there won’t be a conclusion to the regular season, and that teams will jump straight into the playoffs. Or perhaps a shortened regular season, with only the teams that are jockeying for playoff position.
According to Warriors beat reporter Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr isn’t anticipating having any more games to coach this year.
Steve Kerr: "It feels like the end of our season. ... We're staying in touch with our guys, but it definitely feels like the season is done for us." Kerr added that the Warriors had a Zoom call with players last week. "It felt like our annual exit meeting."
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) April 28, 2020
While the Warriors have some finality for their season, the rest of the league does not. Golden State is the only team that has been eliminated, and only four teams have clinched a playoff spot.
Hopefully we have a return to the season at some point, so we can see how things play out (and be entertained in the process). It seems as though things are trending optimistically for NBA basketball to return — just not Warriors basketball.