Despite the improvements made by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green believes that the San Antonio Spurs remain the biggest threat to their reign in the coming season. During an interview with ESPN’s "The Jump," Green said, “for me, it’s San Antonio” when asked what team will give the Warriors a run for their money. Green believes that San Antonio remains ahead of the Thunder, Rockets, and the Timberwolves despite the lack of big signings in the offseason.
“They’ve never had a dropoff. They won 60-something games last year. I just always think San Antonio,” said Green.
The Spurs missed out on the opportunity of signing Chris Paul and Andre Iguodala from the free-agent market. The Los Angeles Clippers traded Paul to the Rockets while the Warriors kept Iguodala with a three-year, $48 million deal in the offseason. In the offseason, the Spurs signed free-agent forward Rudy Gay to a two-year deal worth $17 million and acquired Joffrey Auvergne and Brandon Paul from the free-agent pool.
The Warriors, for their part, kept the corps of last year’s championship squad, signing Stephen Curry, Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, JaVale McGee, and David West to fresh deals.
Golden State also added Nick Young and Omri Casspi from the free-agenr market as additional options on offense.
Warriors, Spurs to clash four times in the coming season
The Warriors and the Spurs will collide on Nov. 2, 2017 in their first meeting since Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals last season. The Warriors were able to sweep the Spurs after San Antonio superstar Kawhi Leonard suffered an ankle injury in Game 1.
Without Leonard, the Warriors became unstoppable as they cruised to the NBA Finals via a sweep. The Warriors then bagged their second NBA title in three years after a 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Many were saying that the outcome of the series would have been different if Leonard and Tony Parker weren’t sidelined by injuries.
Now, the Warriors and the Spurs have four games in the regular season to prove who’s the best in the West.
Other teams out to challenge Warriors
The Rockets acquired Paul from the Clippers to team up with Harden, who placed second in MVP voting last season. The Rockets also tried to work out a trade with the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony but it didn’t materialize. The Knicks instead shipped Anthony to the Thunder where he will team up with reigning MVP Russell Westbrook and Paul George. This marked the second blockbuster trade for the Thunder, who acquired George from the Indiana Pacers for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis earlier.
