The Warriors are ruling the Western Conference like it's 2015, sitting in first place through 15 games of the 2024-25 NBA season.
They're a completely different team than they were during those dynasty years, though, so what's fueling them to this early success?
"It's that light skin brother with the green eyes," ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said Friday on Sports Center. "It seems like he's on a revenge tour right now. I saw this look in his eyes during the preseason and I said, 'Steph Curry is locked in'. Steph Curry feels some type of way, in my opinion, with Klay Thompson leaving him. We saw the passion that he played with when they beat Dallas a few weeks ago. But when you think about the way this team is playing, Steve Kerr, adding a new recipe to the game going with a 13-man rotation.
"They're defending the perimeter at an extremely high level. No. 1 at guarding the 3-point line. Draymond Green is looking like a guy who's saying, 'You know what? I think y'all forgot about me when it comes down to Defensive Player of the Year type guys, and I'm going to put my name back in the conversation.' So I know they're playing to secure and lock up the NBA Cup, but I'm looking at them overall, and I'm looking at the West with all the injuries right now and it's a mystery.
"The Warriors are a legit threat in the Western Conference to make it out the West."
Curry, in his 16th season at age 36, has shown no sign of slowing down, even after dealing with an ankle injury.
Golden State Warriors
Through 12 games this season, the two-time NBA MVP is averaging 22.7 points on 48.9-percent shooting from the field and 45 percent from long range, with 5.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists in 29.6 minutes.
Playing without his longtime backcourt mate and Splash Bro for the first time in 13 years, there have been several adjustments made for Curry and the entire team. But offseason additions and lineup tweaks have proven to work thus far.
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It's unclear if Curry has his own agenda after Thompson left his side to join Kyrie Irving, Luka Donฤiฤ and the Mavericks this offseason, but we do know he took Thompson's recent return to Chase Center personally after Thompson apparently "ghosted" Curry.
Green revealed on "The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis" that Curry, who was supposed to give a pregame speech about Thompson during his Bay Area homecoming but then canceled last minute, reached out to Thompson to check in on something but never heard back. Green said Curry was "pissed" about it, prompting a 37-point showing from the Chef, including 12 points in the final three minutes and a 3-point dagger followed by his signature "night night" celebration.
Call it pissed. Call it revenge. Call it competitiveness.
Whatever it is, it's working for Curry and the Warriors.
