Is this how you pictured it ending? A sad blowout a couple hours north? Klay Thompson in eternal search of a basket that will never come?
The Warriors' season is over. That, in many ways, is beside the point. Their 118-94 loss to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament cemented a season that was never meant to be. They were run off the court.
This season was doomed, reborn, doomed. Again and again. That was the blender the Warriors trapped themselves within.
They went 25-11 over the final 36 games, and 10-2 over their last 12. But they lost exactly the wrong games at just the wrong time. They came up too little, too late, too many times. A team simultaneously too old and too young.
Now, perhaps mercifully, the ruse is up. In truth, it was up months ago, right around when Draymond Green got himself indefinitely suspended. His return saw that light flicker back to life for a moment.
Maybe we can get the sixth seed! Steve Kerr proposed. Then, Steph Curry twisted an ankle. The Warriors sputtered to six losses over their next nine.
This is just what happened on the court. Off it, Jonathan Kuminga "lost faith" in Kerr — a comical embodiment of social-media-age delusion — then regained it to the point that he now wants to be a Warrior "for life." Andrew Wiggins was not present for most of the season, his worst by any metric. His once team-friendly deal became an albatross.
In the midst of their fight to reclaim some sort of credibility, their assistant coach, Dejan Milojević died at a team dinner. There is nothing that can be done to relieve that hollow feeling. No accolades, no championships, nothing eases that.
But they attempted to soldier on, clinging to the memory of magic they hoped would allow their old selves apparate when it the time was right. It was nowhere to be found.
Even as the Warriors surged in that second half of the season, their dreams seemed to get a little bit weaker. The dream of the sixth seed became: maybe we can steal the seventh or eighth seed! Maybe we can host a play-in game! Maybe we can go on one more run! Maybe, maybe, maybe.
The Warriors are left only with maybes. Maybe they just got unlucky with Green's suspension. Maybe there's a little more juice left to squeeze. Maybe they'll re-sign Klay Thompson.
That last maybe is the one that is most gutting. Let us return to the reality of Tuesday night. Klay Thompson went 0-of-10. He was excellent, resurgent, seemingly reinvigorated down the stretch of the season. Then he disappeared.
Questions over whether he had played himself out of the Warriors' price range now turn to questions over whether the Warriors will even want to keep him at a competitive price.
Joe Lacob said his priority is to get under the luxury tax. That may not be possible if the Warriors retain Thompson.
Stephen Curry is 36. Thompson and Green are 34.
Does anyone really think that core has what it takes to win another championship? Does anyone believe Jonathan Kuminga — terrible, then outstanding, then silent — is the answer? Will Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis' growth be enough to believe this team — without a first-round draft pick — can be competitive next season?
How can Lacob be asked to buy back into this experience? This roster cost him and Warriors ownership more than $400 million in contracts and taxes this season and couldn't even host a play-in game.
This same core begged and pleaded to get older, to bring in Chris Paul. They got that. On Tuesday, in a cosmic rejection of their wisdom-over-youth thesis they were injected with life, if only briefly, by the likes of the criminally under-played Moses Moody and Kuminga. Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis kept them afloat this season.
This thing — whatever this thing is — will change next season. The dynasty ended in 2020, but at least the Warriors had some hope that they could make the last best years of Curry count.
That hope feels lost. It is a feeling best captured by one look into the face of Klay Thompson.
At the 4:39 mark in the fourth quarter, with the Kings shooting free throws to go up by 23 points, the camera zoomed into Thompson. The right side of his lip was badly bruised. His face was wrapped in a nauseated glaze.
Is this really how it ends? Maybe.
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