The Golden State Warriors have officially ended their 2025-26 campaign. They were decimated by the Phoenix Suns, 111-96, and sent packing after the final game of the NBA Play-In Tournament. A lot of uncertainty now clouds over them like the futures of both Coach Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry. Winning was important in this game to dispel those questions from rising and Kristaps Porzingis had answer as to why they fell short.
Porzingis knows Warriors lacked ‘more time together’ before NBA Play-In
It is no secret that the Warriors core remains relatively old while also having spent less time together. Adding in crucial injuries to guys like Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler throughout the 82-game run also did not help. Kristaps Porzingis saw all of these problems become the reason for why the Warriors could not stand a chance against the Suns in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
The Warriors big man got into detail as to why he thinks the lack of familiarity led to the untimely elimination of Coach Steve Kerr’s squad, via Nick Friedell and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
“We barely got any time together. It’s just hard to develop some crazy plays playing 14 minutes together. It’s a process, and I’m learning Steph and picking up on his things and talking to him … I wish we had more time,” Porzingis declared.
A lot of this holds true. Porzingis had to play through an ankle injury in the NBA Play-In and Curry also nursed a bad case of runner’s knee entering the postseason. Coach Kerr just was not able to have the luxury of exploring the chemistry of all the possible Warriors lineups which could have led to better rotations and schemes.
Contracts will also start to expire in the offseason while the budding concern of Curry and Coach Kerr’s retirement remain to be scary. Will they be able to bring this team back so that they’d make it past the NBA Play-In come 2027?