For the majority of Stephen Curry's career, the Golden State Warriors have been among the favorites to contend for the Larry O'Brien trophy. Yet, with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody set to miss a large stretch of the season due to injury, and concerns over Kristaps Porzingis' durability, the Warriors will head into the 2026-27 campaign with noticeably lower expectations on their shoulders.
During Golden State's media day on Monday, Sept. 28, Steve Kerr spoke about the Warriors' lack of championship expectations, noting that the focus will be on improving the overall day-to-day process with the team.
"Last year, I told the team in our first meeting that we're trying to win the championship," Kerr said. "I said, 'What's the goal?' and they all said, 'championship.'
I think I even told them that we want a home-court advantage. If you go through what we went through last year with the injuries, you flip things over into this summer, and you decide that we're going to re-imagine everything. Part of reimagining is that you focus on the process, every single day...I am 100% locked in on the process, on how we're teaching every single day. I firmly believe that if we do that from the beginning, without even mentioning expectations, then we're going to have a good season."
However, it doesn't appear that Curry is on board with the idea that Golden State aren't contenders this season. When asked about the team not being contenders, and potentially fighting for a spot in the playoffs, Curry gave an honest answer while keeping things light-hearted and humorous.
"That's how bad it is?"Curry said."To make the playoffs? We went from championship to playoffs? Damn."
There's no doubt that when fully healthy, Golden State has enough talent to be among the front-runners in the Western Conference. The issue is that health was a major issue last season, and the Warriors are already down three key pieces (when you include Porzingis' absence) to begin the new season. If Golden State can get healthy before the stretch run, then maybe they can change the current narrative surrounding them. Curry certainly seems motivated to do just that.
This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebookand Twitter!
This article originally appeared on Warriors Wire: Stephen Curry has perfect reaction to Warriors' lowered expectations
