SAN FRANCISCO — If you ever took an Intro to Philosophy course, you probably vaguely recollect The Ship of Theseus paradox. Basically, it asks that if each piece of a ship is replaced one-by-one but maintains the same structure, at what point — if ever — does it become a different ship? The paradox applies to NBA teams as well. For example, the Phoenix Suns have one player (Devin Booker) remaining on their roster from their 2021 Finals run. That team, for all intents and purposes, is not the same.
The Golden State Warriors are in a much different position, with their core — Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney — still intact from their 2022 championship. It’s hard to argue that the Warriors are the same team, however, because of the glaring, aching absence of Klay Thompson.
“A guy like that, he’s been here for long — he was here for a long time,” Looney said at Warriors Media Day on Monday, catching himself in the present tense instead of the past. “He helped build a special team and dynasty and his spirit is always going to be missed. … He kind of showed us the Warrior way and how to play and how to carry yourself.”
Golden State’s offseason additions of Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton and Lindy Waters III can help approximate Thompson’s on-court production and 3-point volume — even free-agent acquisition Kyle Anderson has been drawing raves with his revamped shooting form — but the heart, the essence, the … Klayism. That crucial piece is in Dallas, and it’s left a gaping hole in the hull of the Warriors’ ship.
“With Klay leaving here, things just look different, it feels different,” Green said on Monday. “It’s not the same thing anymore. For so long it’s just been the same thing.”
Until about the middle of last season, it seemed like a fait accompli that Thompson would retire a Warrior alongside Curry. If any member of the trio was going to land elsewhere before their career was done, you would have bet on Green given his series of recent transgressions. Instead it was Thompson who absconded, reportedly disillusioned with Golden State’s efforts — or lack thereof — to keep him in the Bay.
Though generally not the loudest guy in the room, Thompson’s presence was clearly missed at Media Day on Monday, with several Warriors remarking about the “energy” that will no longer permeate the locker room. He played 13 seasons with Golden State, all of them with Curry as a teammate and all but one with Green. Warriors forward Moses Moody said he still plays online chess against Thompson (Moody lost to him on Monday morning, but vowed revenge). Jonathan Kuminga recalled how much it meant to him that Thompson visited his native Africa not long ago.
This guy meant more to his teammates, and to his city, than what he can do on a basketball court.
“I think a lot of people don’t know who Klay is off the court. He’s a great guy off the court,” Kuminga said on Monday. “He’s just a very adorable person off the court because he enjoys spending time with people, he enjoys talking to people.”
So, if Thompson was synonymous with the Warriors, and he’s not longer a Warrior, are the Warriors still the Warriors? You see why an annoyingly unanswerable philosophical mindbender is apt.
Since he arrived in Golden State a decade ago, head coach Steve Kerr has run one of the most unique, complicated offensive systems in the game. It’s led to unparalleled success, capitalizing on the one-of-one talent that is Stephen Curry. But it’s also weeded out countless players who simply cannot thrive in it. This season, Kerr has vowed to simplify things by eliminating a few of the myriad options each player has on any given play, presenting a difficult balance of maintaining identity while adapting to personnel. It sounds, at least for now, that he’s earned buy-in from the face of the franchise.
“I know there’s a Warrior mentality and culture of how we do things, there’s a system that we ran for a decade-plus that has worked. It doesn’t necessarily mean that’s how this team needs to play,” Curry said on Monday. “We have to have kind of antennas up and an openness to accept what this team’s strengths are, what our weaknesses are, and kind of lean into those.”
With the offense changing and Thompson no longer in the fold, the inevitable evolution and reinvention that takes place for most franchises every few seasons is finally hitting the Warriors. The assimilation of Hield, Melton and Anderson — along with the continued progression of Kuminga, Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis — will ultimately decide whether this version of the Warriors can make one last run at the mountaintop. As Green said on Monday, “championships are won six through 10. Championships aren’t won one through five.”
However, Thompson’s departure means that no matter how much success or failure this team has, it’s going to look different. It’s just not the same ship. It’s missing one of its captains.
“Just his energy on and off the court. Especially we are going to miss him on the court,” Gary Payton II said of Thompson on Monday. “We know what he brings. He’s a tough-shot maker, tough-shot taker. You can’t really duplicate that, what he does.
“We’re going to miss him, but excited to kick his ass pretty soon.”
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