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SAN FRANCISCO – With ears ringing, minds racing and futures clouded by uncertainty, the Warriors on Friday returned to the Bay Area to play basketball against the imposing Detroit Pistons.
It did not go well.
Detroit, sitting atop the Eastern Conference and coming off an 18-point loss one day earlier in Phoenix, walked into Chase Center and immediately shocked the Warriors and the sellout crowd with a 45-point first quarter. The Warriors spent the next three quarters trying but failing to mount a comeback, taking a 131-124 loss that dropped them to 2-4 since Jan. 19, when Jimmy Butler III was helped off the court after sustaining a torn right ACL.
More concerning than losing a game was the sight of Stephen Curry leaving the game with 4:08 left in the third quarter. His right knee, tender for weeks, flared up and ended his night.
“I think he’s OK,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I don’t think it’s anything major, but we’ll have an update tomorrow.”
How many fingers can one team cross? The sixth game since Butler went down unfolded like a horror show. Logic dictated there would be considerable regression, and that is being affirmed. Change is coming because none of the franchise principals is comfortable with allowing the Warriors to spend the rest of the season fading into the NBA background. Not CEO Joe Lacob. Not general manager Mike Dunleavy. Not Kerr. And certainly not decorated veterans Draymond Green and Curry.
The NBA trade deadline is four days away and everyone on the roster not named Curry is aware of the rampant speculation regarding who the Warriors would have to move to have a chance at realizing the dream that is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I’ve been here for 14 years,” Green said more than an hour after the final buzzer. “I have no reason to sit and worry about leaving. But if I’m traded, that’s part of your business. It is what it is. I ain’t losing no sleep though.”
Some of Green’s teammates, however, are acutely aware that Lacob, Dunleavy & Co. are aggressively trying to maneuver their way toward a deal that would persuade the Milwaukee Bucks to send Antetokounmpo to the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, the games keep coming. The Philadelphia 76ers come to town Tuesday, and the Warriors on Wednesday leave for Phoenix to face the Suns on “trade-deadline” Thursday.
“Honestly, you just got to put your head down and work,” De’Anthony Melton said. “Some stuff is out of your control. Early in my career, one of the vets told that when a superstar or whatever wants to get moved, everybody’s on the (trading) block. Nobody’s above the program.”
Curry, according to league sources, is not on the block. Trading Steph might make Lacob reconsider occupying his high-profile courtside seat. To have any chance of snagging Giannis, everyone else on the roster will have to be in play – as well as every future first-round draft pick. The Warriors don’t want to trade Green, but doing so is not inconceivable. Dunleavy last week said he did not envision trading Butler, whose salary matches that of Antetokounmpo. But no front office in the league is above reevaluating its process.
Which is why everyone on Golden State’s roster, Curry excluded, is operating in the sort of ongoing limbo that can affect mood and performance. Particularly for the younger players still new to the business of the NBA.
“I would say it was more so felt a couple weeks ago,” Green said. “It’s been less felt over the last week or so around here. But, yeah, I’d imagine a lot of young guys are nervous because you’ve just never been a part of it. Your name’s never been thrown in some rumors.”
Al Horford, a 19-year veteran who turns 40 in June and is the third-oldest player in the league, concedes that the days approaching the deadline can have an adverse effect not only on younger players but across the entire roster.
“It’s hard on all of us,” Horford told NBC Sports Bay Area, “but especially for younger players that are trying to find their way and establish themselves. This time of year, I find that it doesn’t matter what team you’re on, it’s always going to be stressful. It’s tough. We kind of have to have some sort of empathy for everybody, because we’re all just kind of going through it. And there’s a lot of ‘what ifs’ and things like that.
“From my experience, once the deadline passes, everybody kind of takes a deep breath. It slows down, and you’ll see a better team.”
The Warriors yearn for a better team. Better than the squad that fell behind early on Friday and never caught up. Even better than the team that was 25-19 – a season-high six games over .500 – when Butler went down.
The process, however, includes preparing for and playing in upcoming games, trying to summon your best while simultaneously compartmentalizing the noise that could include the possibility of leaving your Warriors gear behind and putting on another jersey in another city.
“That’s the job, and it’s no fun to see your name in a trade rumor or something,” said Kerr, who was traded five times in his player career. “But it’s the job. We talk about that frequently. Not all the time, but we mention it.
“It’s a great job. But also, there’s some difficult aspects. And this is one.”