Will The Golden State Warriors Take Part In A Rebooted 2019-20 NBA Season?

The NBA announced yesterday that they were in exploratory talks to restart the 2019-20 NBA season in Disney World in late-July. According to The Athletic NBA General Managers have been surveyed to see what kind of return the NBA should attempt, with scenarios ranging from moving straight to the playoffs, to completing the regular season, and with various permutations of playoff play-in tournaments in between. 

It’s all part of implementing the long-running “bubble” idea where the NBA will quarantine teams on one location and attempt to crown a champion. 

Will the Warriors take part?

For the Golden State Warriors though, it should be irrelevant. They are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, with a 15-50 record. For the last few months they’ve had little to do but analyse what to do with their likely-top 5 draft pick and try to plot a course back to championship contention. 

That said, when asked recently GM Bob Myers stressed that the Warriors “want to be good partners and we will be good partners.” It’s a noble sentiment, but perhaps a tad misplaced. There is little reason for the NBA to bring another team, with all those extra bodies, into the bubble. It just generates further risk in the midst of a global pandemic that is still raging, with almost 100,000 deaths in the United States alone.

The Warriors have been doing everything they can to help their community through these difficult times, from setting up a fund for arena workers impacted by the closure of Chase Center, to participating in NBA virtual initiatives and creating their own virtual academy program to keep basketball fans healthy. Stephen Curry has been at the forefront of player efforts to tackle the spread of the virus, including by hosting an Instagram Live Q&A with Dr. Anthony Fauci. These are far more important initiatives than taking part in a few meaningless regular season games.

70 games is the magic number

The most sensible course of action for the NBA would appear to be zooming straight to the playoffs, perhaps with a play-in tournament for teams in the 9th and 10th position. This was part of the package of proposals NBA Commissioner Adam Silver proposed for the NBA’s 75th season. The Disney World bubble could be a perfect place to try out such an experiment. 

But there is another rationale for getting a few more regular season games in. Per Brian Windhorst, the key deliverable to regional sports networks is 70 games. Less than that, and they may not get all of their money. Given the potential financial impact from the loss of fans at games, quite possibly extending into the 2020-21 season, there is a strong financial incentive for the NBA to deliver those extra games.

For the Warriors though, there was no chance of getting there anyway, as their original schedule had 30 games this season on national TV. Even if some of those were switched after the Warriors plummeted down the standings, an extra few games of the Warriors fringe talent is not going to make much money for local broadcasters.

Next season is what matters for the Warriors

The Warriors are all about next season at this point. Their focus this summer will be on rehabbing Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney, developing their younger players, and exploring options to improve their roster. All of that can be done in re-opened facilities at Chase Center. 

What’s more, adding in the full 30 teams for the rebooted regular season could add another month to how long the bubble season takes to conclude. That could knock back the start of the 2020-21 season, which definitely isn’t in the Warriors interests.

Salvaging some sort of 2019-20 season does matter though. The Warriors will be one of the worst-hit teams in the NBA from a drop in league revenues feeding through into a steady, or declining salary cap. They have a pretty big stake in the NBA getting back to business as soon as it’s safe to do so. 

Still, there’s no real reason for the Warriors to be part of that. If the NBA asks them, they’ll show up in some form. But perhaps it’s best for all parties to formally call time on the Warriors 2019-20 season.