Warriors report card: Team grades for roller coaster 2024-25 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The conference finals are set, and the Warriors will be watching like the rest of us.
An injured Steph Curry saw the Warriors drop four straight games to the Minnesota Timberwolves to end their season. Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Co. couldn’t get the job done for who Steve Kerr called the sun of their solar system.
There were never-ending storylines this season, and playoff basketball at Chase Center with another star next to Curry. Telling the story of the 2024-25 Warriors would take hours. A close second is breaking it down by these categories, getting as close as we can to a final assertion of what all happened.
Offense
From Butler’s team debut to the end of the regular season, the Warriors ranked 11th in points per game (117.5) and eighth in offensive rating (118.2). They were third in 3-point attempts (42.1) and makes per game (15.4), but 15th in 3-point percentage (36.6 percent) and 21st in field goal percentage (46.2 percent). Their offense changed in a handful of ways after Butler’s arrival.
Most noticeable was the free-throw line. Butler’s ability to get to the line is something they haven’t had since … ever? Kevin Durant? Butler averaged 7.7 free throw attempts in the 30 regular-season games he played for the Warriors. The most Durant averaged with the Warriors was 6.5 in his final season.
The Warriors through the rest of the regular season made the most free throws per game (20.5), attempted the third-most (24.9) and had the third-best free-throw percentage (82.2 percent). Butler quickly figured out how to be Curry’s co-star. He’s an isolation player in a movement offense whose basketball IQ made it all work.
But the Warriors’ lack of shooting without Curry in the playoffs was alarming. It became clear Butler really needs shooting around him. The offense will largely remain the same, but it will be very interesting watching a full season of it with Butler.
Grade: B
Defense
Defense became the Warriors’ calling card down the stretch. They had the best defensive rating in the game following Butler’s trade (109.0), and had everyone buying in. The Warriors held teams to under 100 points seven times post-Butler in the regular season, and three of their four wins against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. Same with their one win in the conference semifinals.
The Minnesota Timberwolves also figured out the Warriors’ defense the final few games and shot 62.8 percent in the season-ender. That’s a tough way to end, but the Warriors’ defense was a problem when it was humming.
The best of Andrew Wiggins was missed, though Butler improves the unit in ways Wiggins doesn’t. This was a group Jerry Stackhouse can be proud of.
Grade: B+
Stars
Bringing in Butler revitalized Curry. He played 28 games to end of the regular season and averaged 27.3 points on 47.3 percent shooting, 40.8 percent from 92.4 percent from the free-throw line. Curry played his way into a real argument for All-NBA First Team.
Green nearly became the oldest Defensive Player of the Year in NBA history. He finished third in voting instead, but will be All-Defensive First Team, which was his main goal coming into the season.
Butler proved exactly who he is at this stage of his career. He’s incredibly smart, makes his teammates better and does a little bit of everything. He also isn’t a 3-point threat, will likely float closer to 20 points than 30 points and can frustrate some fans after watching a different brand for so long.
Butler averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game for the Warriors in the regular season, and 19.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.2 assist and 1.3 steals per game. He scored more than 20 points in six of his 11 playoff games, and fewer than 20 five times. The Warriors went 4-2 when Butler scored at least 20 points in the playoffs, and 0-5 in the games he didn’t score at least 20 points.
Grade: A-
Additions
Really, this could just be another section about Butler. Let’s dig a little deeper.
General manager Mike Dunleavy in the offseason brought in four players: Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Lindy Waters III. Only Hield made it through the season on the roster. The Warriors traded for Dennis Schröder in December, and then dealt him to Detroit two months later as part of the move that added Butler.
With the loss of Klay Thompson, the Warriors needed another outside threat and Hield held down the fort. The longtime 3-point ace made 200 threes for his seventh consecutive season. The experience is up-and-down on the floor, but the Warriors love having Hield in the locker room and the stars are fond of playing with him.
Some additions found success and others struggled. They all led to Butler.
Grade: B+
Youth
Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody were the two pieces that fit best next to Curry, Butler and Green, forming a starting five that rarely lost. Podziemski and Moody then struggled more than not in the playoffs. The good still outweighed the bad.
There aren’t enough words to go through Kuminga’s season. It’d be easy to forget at one point Draymond was sent to the bench to hand the keys to Kuminga. His season was then derailed by an injury and not fitting next to Butler once he was healthy. He proved what a scorer he is without Curry, but that never amounts to wins.
At center, the Warriors had two young players who had much different seasons. Trayce Jackson-Davis was a Ring Star at All-Star weekend, but was mostly out of the rotation by then after beginning the season as the Warriors’ starting center. Rookie Quinten Post went from being on a two-way contract and calling Santa Cruz home, to carving out a needed role for the big team and signing a standard contract.
Gui Santos, 22, should be part of this conversation too. Kerr has always been a fan, and Santos this season earned his trust to get minutes in big situations. His energy is infectious, making up for what he lacks elsewhere.
Grade: B-
Health
Curry played 70 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since he did from his age-24 through age-28 seasons. Green played 68, and Butler only missed one in the regular season after the trade.
The Kuminga injury threw a wrench nobody expected. There’s only one reason why this section deserves two thumbs down: Curry’s left hamstring.
Golden State’s season ended on four straight losses without Curry. Butler missed the majority of a Game 2 loss to Houston because of a pelvic contusion, and missed all of Game 3. The effects from that fall were underplayed. As was Curry’s right thumb, and his own pelvic contusion.
Multiple illnesses ran through the Warriors in the playoffs, Podziemski was beat up and so was Gary Payton II.
Grade: F
Coaching
Between injuries and a giant mid-season trade, Kerr had his hands full. He adjusted and also had to use some of the most starting lineups in the NBA. Even in the playoffs, and not just because of injuries, he still was searching.
The coaches Kerr brought in during the offseason, Stackhouse and Terry Stotts, made positive impacts on both sides of the ball, and this might have been the best integration between Santa Cruz and San Francisco yet.
Grade: B+
Overall
As previously noted, this season was a win. Curry having to watch it crumble without him made it an incomplete win. The Warriors ending as one of the best eight teams in the NBA does deserve its due.
The Warriors didn’t come into this season expecting to compete for a championship. They wanted to play meaningful basketball and establish more of a foundation. Another star was added, and the Warriors know the three aging players who will lead their championship window that appears to be open for maybe a year or two.
Many of their goals were achieved, and it’s still impossible not to wonder what-if.
Grade: B+
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