Welcome to February Daily Topics at Golden State of Mind. A question (almost) every day this month to give the community a prompt to talk about!
The Golden State Warriors are limping towards the All-Star break. They have two games remaining, and then they’ll get some much-needed rest and recuperation time, as they gear up for the final months of the season. When they return from their respective vacations, they’ll be expected to welcome Kristaps Porziņģis into the fold, and that will make for some basketball
worth watching, for better or for worse.
There is one player who won’t be on vacation this weekend, though, and that’s the face of the franchise: Steph Curry, who has been named an All-Star starter. It’s the 12th time in his illustrious career that he’s been named one of the best players in the world for the midseason game.
It’s been a while since he’s had a running mate. Curry is Golden State’s lone All-Star representative this year, as he was last year … and the year before … and the year before. You have to go all the way back to 2022, when he was joined by both Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins to find a time when the Warriors had a non-Curry representative. That, of course, capped off a brilliant string of All-Star appearances, as Green, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant were all staples of the game (and Durant still is, just in a different jersey).
So who will be the next non-Curry player to represent the Warriors at the All-Star Game? it certainly feels like Green’s All-Star nods are well behind him. Jimmy Butler III would have had a shot next year, but now he’ll be sidelined until about the All-Star break anyway.
Jonathan Kuminga perhaps had the highest ceiling of any of the young players on the roster, but he’s in Atlanta now. Porziņģis was an All-Star once upon a time, so if the Dubs re-sign him, he could pop off for another selection, if he’s able to stay on the court.
Certainly we can all hope that a young player — Brandin Podziemski, anyone? — takes a leap and earns a nod in the coming years but, to my eye, it seems likely that the next non-Curry player to make the All-Star Game for the Warriors is not currently under contract with the team.
Maybe it’s a free agent. Maybe it’s a trade piece. Maybe it’s a player they haven’t drafted yet.
What the hell. I’ll say Giannis Antetokounmpo.
