The unfortunate injury situation of the Golden State Warriors has left the Western Conference wide open for the Utah Jazz and their foes in the 2019-20 season.
Let me put something bluntly here. Injuries suck.
Regardless of if they happen to your best friend or your worst enemy, the horrible fate of injury woes isn’t something you ever want to see. Unfortunately, the former defending champion Golden State Warriors got a nasty dose of such misfortune at the worst possible time.
In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, after returning to action from a calf strain sustained earlier in the postseason, Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles. Just one game later – a crucial Game 6 – Klay Thompson tore his ACL.
The devastating blows resulted in the Warriors coming up short and forfeiting a shot at a championship three-peat, instead allowing the opposing Toronto Raptors to win their first championship in franchise history. However, more than damaging the Golden State Warriors this year, the injuries may play an even more devastating role down the road for them.
Both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson are set to hit free agency this summer, meaning both their individual and the team’s decisions regarding them was going to be tough. Now each is faced with a grueling decision – stay or go, pay the max or let them walk, take a chance or play it safe. The dilemmas are endless.
Asked Lacob about Klay earlier tonight, just before tipoff. His response: “I’m not allowed to say what we’re going to do…I will just say, I love Klay Thompson. We love Klay Thompson. We find it very difficult to see Klay Thompson in any other uniform.”
— Chris Ballard (@Chris_Ballard33) June 14, 2019
While the Warriors are caught dealing with tragic blows to two of their best players, though, the cruel reality is that their catastrophic downfall opens up a window of opportunity for just about every other team in the Western Conference, including the Utah Jazz. Now, by no means is this anywhere close to a celebration of injury – that would be horrible and far from my intended message. My point is, with the Warriors reeling with injury struggles, sad and unfortunate though they might be, the door is wide open for a new champion of the West to emerge.
Achilles injuries are among the most devastating a player can suffer, and it’s not unrealistic to speculate that we won’t see KD back in action again for an entire calendar year, which would only allow him to return if his team (be it the Warriors or a new team he opts to join this summer) were in the NBA Finals. That would be a tough task for whoever is paying him yet not receiving the benefit of his talent while he rehabs.
Meanwhile, it would be surprising to see Klay out for such an extended period of time with the torn ACL, but that’s still a serious injury that takes an extensive amount of time and work to get back from. While it almost makes me shudder to say it about two such phenomenal talents, the reality is that both can be career-altering injuries and we have to accept that there is at least somewhat a possibility that one or both players will never be the same.
If such is the case and, assuming the Warriors keep both for next season (though that may be less than likely depending which free agency rumors about the pair are true), Golden State goes most/all of next year without Thompson and Durant in action, it will be nigh impossible for them to get back to the Finals yet again.
The Houston Rockets have already been close to toppling this mighty Warriors squad. Teams like the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers and, yes, even the Utah Jazz have proven they are worthy competitors. Even the LA Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers could be major threats next season depending how the summer shakes out.
Take away two All-Stars from the star-studded Warriors, and suddenly the West looks much more wide open. Even if Klay and Kevin do get back to suit up for Golden State sometime in the 2019-20 season, there’s no questioning that it will take some heavy adjustments and that they’ll be far from full force in time.
Even if Warriors are able to keep Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant in free agency, it'll be a fight to reach playoffs in the Western Conference. Thompson's ACL rehab could take him into February or March -- and Durant likely misses entire season. Devastating turn of events. https://t.co/xKXayv9p34
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 14, 2019
As such, if the Jazz were ever hoping to swing for the fences on a championship attempt, this year would appear to be the one to do it. Yes, Donovan Mitchell is still young and he’d need vast improvement still as would teammates such as Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale. But beyond that, the Jazz need to add more talent to really take the team to the next level and attempt to capitalize on this unforeseen and unfortunate but also very realistic opportunity.
Just like the Kawhi Leonard trade carried out at the perfect time, then culminating with injuries to the Warriors squad led to a dream scenario that helped the Raptors win a title, the Jazz should be ready to make a move of their own to follow that trajectory while the battered Warriors are significantly down for the count.
There’s been talk of Utah going after names like Kemba Walker, Tobias Harris and D’Angelo Russell, trading for a stud like Mike Conley, or even doing some combo of trade and free agent signing to add a pair of mid-tier guys that would elevate Utah’s overall competitiveness. Any one of these moves, based on opportunity and calculated risk-taking, would make the Jazz much better.
And with the Warriors seemingly out of the way – in a temporary fashion at least, as I’m certain they’ll be back (and will be no slouch even with only Stephen Curry and Draymond Green leading the way) – such moves could very well take the Jazz to the next level.
A perfect storm of unfortunate events to the West’s juggernaut and a jackpot summer for the Jazz could very well turn the tide and push the SLC squad into championship contending mode.
The West will be full of capable competitors aiming to do the same thing, though. The Warriors, despite being wounded, will still be a force to be reckoned with. And the Jazz have a lot of work to do this summer to make this dream anywhere close to reality.
But the fact of the matter is that Golden State’s regrettable misfortune has undoubtedly opened up a significant window of opportunity for the Utah Jazz. Will they seize that chance and strike? We’ll have a pretty good idea of that in a few short weeks as the NBA Draft (and potential trades surrounding it) takes place on June 20th and free agency begins just 10 days later on June 30th.