Golden State, which has made the last five Finals and won three titles during that time frame, lost Kevin Durant to the Nets in free agency this summer and traded away Andre Iguodala while Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6 against the Raptors and is expected to miss a significant portion of next season.
Some have speculated the Warriors’ dynasty is over, but Thompson does not believe that’s the case.
“I think that’s a little premature, to say there’s no more dynasty,” Thompson said during a recent interview with ESPN. “To say the dynasty is over is a little ignorant because I’m going to come back even better and more athletic. It would not be smart to count the Dubs out. That’s all I’ll tell people.”
Durant won two titles and two Finals MVPs during his time with the Warriors. He averaged 26.0 points and 6.4 rebounds last season but ruptured his Achilles in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Raptors.
“The one thing I’d share is, he just felt like, it was something inside of him, in his heart, that he wanted to try something different,” Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers said last month about Durant joining Brooklyn. “Nothing wrong with that. I’m at peace about it, personally, I hope our fans are, too. He was one of the best athletes to come through our city, certainly this organization.”
Golden State managed to offset the loss of Durant, somewhat, by acquiring guard D’Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he “couldn’t wait” for Russell to join the team.
“(Russell’s a) dynamic player in the pick-and-roll, excellent shooter and I like his in-between game,” Kerr said during a recent appearance on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “The Warriors Insider Podcast.”
“He makes a lot of plays out of the pick-and-roll. Those float shots are tough to master, and he makes those pretty routinely. So, we can do a lot of things with D’Angelo on and off the ball.”
Russell had a career year for the Nets last season and made his first All-Star team. He’ll slot into the Warriors’ backcourt next to star Stephen Curry in 2019-20 as Thompson continues to recover.
