{"id":615884,"date":"2026-02-21T14:09:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615884\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T14:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:09:44","slug":"why-tanking-would-be-unpalatable-untenable-and-ultimately-worthless-for-the-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615884\/","title":{"rendered":"Why tanking would be unpalatable, untenable, and ultimately worthless for the Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the <\/a>Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the \u201cSection 415\u201d podcast <\/a>wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before the Warriors\u2019 121-110 loss to the Celtics, head coach Steve Kerr said Steph Curry\u2019s lingering runner\u2019s knee doesn\u2019t change Golden State\u2019s objective for the rest of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curry, who\u2019s set to be re-evaluated in 10 days, will miss at least four games. Despite his extended absence<\/a>, the Warriors are aiming to escape the play-in round with a strong close to the season. If not that, then advance through the play-in to put a scare in a top West seed in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Losing Curry makes that exponentially harder. Even with him, the Warriors\u2019 slim championship hopes evaporated with Jimmy Butler\u2019s season-ending torn ACL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet Kerr\u2019s commitment to winning games isn\u2019t lip service. The Warriors have no choice but to compete for the rest of the season. Joining the crowded tanking race by shutting down Curry and other veterans \u2014 or some half-measured, quiet-quitting variation of that \u2014 would be untenable and likely worthless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors might\u2019ve looked like a tanking team without Curry in Thursday\u2019s blowout home loss to Boston. But they were competing, just as they intend to the rest of the way. The alternative is unpalatable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At 29-27, Golden State is practically locked out of the bottom third of the league. Seven teams \u2014 Sacramento, Indiana, Washington, Brooklyn, Utah, Dallas, and Memphis \u2014 are playing for ping-pong balls. Three more (New Orleans, Milwaukee, and Chicago) are so comfortably behind the Warriors that even a second-half collapse likely wouldn\u2019t make a difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Half the Warriors\u2019 remaining 26 games come against effectively tanking teams (opens in new tab)<\/a>. They won\u2019t even need Curry to win most of those. If they wanted to bottom out and fall for better lottery odds \u2014 emphasis: they don\u2019t \u2014 they\u2019d have to out-tank the tankers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

3 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Feb. 13<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019d require not just shutting down Curry but also resting other veterans on the team. Try telling Al Horford that his 19th season is over early. De\u2019Anthony Melton is trying to prove that he can stay healthy for a full season. What do you think their reactions would be to the idea of selling out for a 1% chance at AJ Dybantsa?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider the current standings. The lowest the Warriors could reasonably fall would probably be below Atlanta. That\u2019d give the Warriors the 12th worst record in the league. The reward? A 1.5% chance at the top pick and 7% odds at leapfrogging into the top-four.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento<\/p>\n

Would those hypothetical odds be worth it? The Mavericks, just last year, landed top prospect Cooper Flagg with 1.8% odds. This is a loaded draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a completely cold, analytical perspective, the Warriors\u2019 choices make for a decent debate. Would you rather have a 7% chance at a blue-chip prospect or, basically, a 1% chance at winning playoff rounds in the Western Conference?<\/p>\n

But basketball isn\u2019t a math equation. The Warriors have a sellout streak to extend, players to develop, and competitive habits to build. Waving the white flag for the last two months would jeopardize all of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NBA has a severe tanking problem. It has only intensified this year, with a possibly generational draft class and teams that are incentivized to lose to maintain protected draft picks they traded.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Warriors won\u2019t be a part of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not in my DNA, nor in this organization\u2019s DNA, to do that,\u201d owner Joe Lacob told The Standard\u2019s Tim Kawakami<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you want to call it tanking; I don\u2019t know if you want to call it whatever. It\u2019s not a good look. This is sports. We\u2019re supposed to play to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only valid reason to shut down Curry would be if the medical staff determines that playing could risk more serious harm. There has been no indication of that possibility to date, as MRIs have revealed no structural damage to his knee.<\/p>\n

So, no, the Warriors aren\u2019t going to tank the final 26 games. As long as they have 30, they have a shot to make some spring memories. That\u2019s a fairly low bar to clear, and it\u2019s far from the expectations they set before the season, but Butler\u2019s injury recalibrated what\u2019s possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What isn\u2019t possible, unless Curry\u2019s injury is more serious than anyone realizes, is bottoming out and purposely falling into the lottery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Kerr likes to say, there\u2019s beauty in the struggle.<\/p>\n

So, a struggle it will be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,479,164,4025,4024,6,932,863,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-615884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-golden-state","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-goldenstate","12":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-steph-curry","15":"tag-steve-kerr","16":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116109022501621639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}