On Tuesday, their 132-94 loss to the Knicks in Madison Square Garden can be chalked up as a mixed result as they never led and played without Stephen Curry for the third straight game since he went down with a shoulder injury on Dec. 14. Golden State never led after the Knicks opened the game with an 8-0 run and never looked back during a wire-twire-win that gave New York their eight straight win.

The Warriors made it as close as 35-33 in the first-half but the Knicks pulled away over time and entered halftime with a 69-56 lead.

“The Knicks are in a good groove right now. They totally outplayed us,” Kerr said per ESPN. “We sank tonight. We’re trying to hang in there and we will. Another game tomorrow.”

When Anthony Slater of The Athletic asked about the fourth quarter effort Kerr got from Jordan Poole (26 points), Moses Moody (11 points), Jonathan Kuminga (13 points, four rebounds, and four assists) James Wiseman (four points, three rebounds, one steal, two blocks), the nine-time champ said that Golden State’s young guys are “working their butts off” and that they have “to keep our energy and our spirit up” when “things don’t go well.”

Steve Kerr on the struggles from the younger portion of the roster tonight vs Knicks pic.twitter.com/6B5u1T5sj4

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 21, 2022

As the Warriors continue to mesh their maxamzie both their present and future lineups, they will have to see that Poole, Moody, Kuminga, Wiseman, and Andrew Wiggins (when healthy) are capable of taking the torch Curry, KlayThompson, and Draymond Green lit and continue to build on the championship DNA and culture that’s led to four titles since 2015.

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Wiggins has since brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Canada as he hosted youth camps in Vaughan and Mississauga. The 2022 All-Star returning to his hometown allowed him to prove to the kids attending his camp that when you believe in yourself and shut out the outside news, you can reap a lot of awards.

“I feel great,” Wiggins said per the Toronto Star. “There’s been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of people had counted me out, but to be back and … winning a championship? All the sacrifices, all the ups, and downs, all the stuff was worth it. It makes the story that much better.”

HOW'S THE AIR UP THERE WIGGS? (via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/dR3ehMFnft

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) June 14, 2022

It was a challenging and humbling lesson Wiggins learned as he went from being a volume scorer in Minnesota known for putting up empty calorie stats on losing teams. When he arrived in Golden State, Wiggins was able to thrive as the third star on a group headlined by Stephen Curry and Klay Thomspon.

Under the watchful eye of GM Bob Myers, Coach Steve Kerr, Curry, Thompson, and Draymond Green, Maple Jordan embraced being a two-way wing that could be relied on to get a bucket late in the shot clock while guarding the toughest perimeter threat.

“When I step on the court, I’ve always been confident in what I can do,” he said. “When I was in Minnesota, I put up numbers. But people said, ‘He put up numbers on a bad team.’ So, I go to Golden State, and I’m not scoring as much, but I’m doing a lot at a more efficient rate, so the whole world gets to see.”

Wiggs is so damn smooth.
(via @warriors) pic.twitter.com/T9unmLqnet

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) June 14, 2022

He played a pivotal role in guarding offensive threats like Luka Doncic, Ja Morant, and Jayson Tatum. He took on each assignment and won more than his fair share of battles, averaging 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game on 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

“It’s been a different type of summer, but the best summer of my life,” he said. “It’s been amazing coming down here and feeling all this love and positivity. It’s been great. Just being able to bring the trophy back home to where it all started for me —— where all my friends and family are, that helped me get to the place where I’m at now.”

Wiggins hopes to come into the 2022-23 season with a freshly minted extension after carrying a significant two-way load last season. The Warriors will likely have to lean on Wiggins as they implement Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman into the lineup after they let several veterans walk away in free agency.

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The eighth-year head coach identified Kevon Looney, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green as the Warriors’ “foundational six,” with the latter three serving as the team’s established core.

Kerr believes Golden State’s core is among the best in the League, especially after adding the younger trio of Looney, Wiggins, and Poole to the mix.

“We have probably more continuity than anybody in the League with our core group,” Kerr said. “Add Wiggs and Jordan and the institutional knowledge they’ve gained, and we have a really strong foundation. That’s the most important thing you can have in this League.

“We had it going into last year. But the difference was, a year ago, we didn’t know if we were really contenders. That’s why the 18-2 start was so big. It reinforced it. This year, being defending champs, it doesn’t guarantee anything, but you have a confident sense in who you are. We have our main six guys back, the foundational six that we know are going to be on the court for big minutes every night. That allows us to bring our young guys along.”

The Dubs’ roster also features future stars such as Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman, all of whom Kerr claims “have shown really good signs.” Moody and Kuminga saw action in the playoffs during the Warriors’ Finals run last season (and also impressed in the most recent NBA Summer League), while Wiseman was sidelined due to injury.

The Warriors will have a lot to prove as they focus on their win-and-develop mindset. Their future success will be predicated on their young core of Moody, Kuminga, Wiseman, Poole, and Wiggins being able to successfully takeover once Golden State’s “foundational six” leave the Warriors.

Next season will be a different journey after the Warriors’ lottery-bound seasons but coming off a championship brings a different level of confidence. Furthermore, being able to get substantial contributions from Moody, Kuminga, and Wiseman on top of his “foundational six” next season, the future could hold another championship for Golden State.

“I don’t know that it’s a bigger challenge because last year felt like a huge challenge going in,” Kerr said. “Last year felt more daunting because we’d had two lousy seasons in a row. This year feels different because we’re the defending champs. It feels like we’ve got our groove back. We’ll have Klay back for a full season. Our foundation in place. While we’re absolutely going to play a lot of young guys, we kind of have a core six, a foundational six players who are really the ones that make everything happen and will allow us to bring the young guys along.”

Photos via Getty Images.

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After his first pitch, Curry was subsequently interviewed and asked about living in the Bay Area and wanting to stay with the Golden State Warriors for the entirety of his career.

“That was a really natural process actually for me,” Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area, “Cause like you said, I just finished my 13th year, and to be able to say I’ve played for one team my entire career, and also to say between the 10 years in Oakland and these last three years in San Francisco, I can honestly say how special this place is — Honestly, I don’t want to leave ever. I want this to be my one and only home, and even thinking about what happens after basketball is done.”

“I don’t want to leave ever. I want this to be my one and only home” – Steph on the Bay Area pic.twitter.com/aWHLidy8b1

— NBC Sports Bay Area & CA (@NBCSAuthentic) July 27, 2022

Curry signed a four-year max extension last summer and won’t hit the free agent market until 2026, when he’s 38-years-old. The happiness that will come with playing Golden State comes with one caveat; he wants to play out the final years of his career with the championship teammates that he’s gone to battle with for the last decade.

Curry reportedly wants Golden State’s front office to pay Draymond Green and Klay Thompson so they can play together, at least through the end of his current contract. The only problem is the luxury tax the Warriors will have to pay to keep Green, Thompson, Curry, Andrew Wiggins, and Jordan Poole on the team for the next three seasons. Green reportedly wants a max contract that, per multiple reports, could be in the four-year range.

The one thing that could keep the band together would be a player deciding to take a paycut. The Warriors are also in a win-and-develop mode right now as they focus on making the most out of Curry, Thompson, and Green’s remaining prime years while making sure that their young core of Poole, Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman get a chance to play and be thrown the fire of playing on a championship contender team.

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However, just because that may be true doesn’t mean that Iggy is retired to hang up his sneakers and retire. If Iguodala knows one thing at this point, it’s that he doesn’t want to be a player-coach if he returns to the Warriors this summer.

“I like basketball,” Iguodala told NBC Sports Bay Area, “I actually like training, too. Summer training is probably the hardest thing. People don’t understand that to really get ready for a season what your body has to go through.

“I’m trying to reflect on the season, enjoy it, enjoy being a champion. And if that time comes — I don’t know if it’s going to be a tough decision, but I’m ready for whatever.”

Iggy filled that role for Golden State last season, similar to what former teammate Udonis Haslem has done over the previous six seasons.

When they were teammates on the Heat, Iguodala saw firsthand how hard Haslem worked as a player-coach, being ready to play despite playing only 58 games since the 2015-2016 season, his 5 a.m. wake-up calls, and attending every practice. Iggy called it a “testament to his work ethic.” but said that he’s “got to kill” any notion that that’s what he wants to do at this late stage of his career.

“The thing that I don’t want to see misconstrued, or I don’t want the perception thrown out there, is that I’m a coach,” he said, describing himself as a businessman who plays basketball. “I don’t want to get thrown into the ‘just go coach.’ That’s not a route I’m looking forward to taking. Not at all.”

If Iggy decides to return, he most likely will be tasked with mentoring the youngest players on the Warriors once again, 20-somethings like Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Jordan Poole, and the like. It’s not an easy job, but it’s a job Iguodala thrived in this past season, and it’ll be a part of the reason why Kuminga, Moody, and Poole end up stepping up and doing well when Coach Steve Kerr calls them into action this upcoming season.

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But Iggy’s injury woes haven’t prevented him from playing a vital role for the Warriors as a player-assistant coach while in street clothes. This is mainly done by mentoring Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody all season and keeping this deep playoff run in perspective. According to Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News, Iguodala has made sure to remind the rookies to take plenty of pictures and keep memorabilia.

“Historically, they aren’t supposed to take on everything that comes with being in the Finals,” Iguodala said. “They’re supposed to be on college campuses learning about themselves, learning who they are as people, learning what they like, learning what they don’t like, instead of these guys making five-plus million dollars a year, got all the pressures, the madness of having money and being in the spotlight. You can become jaded. You can start taking these things for granted.

“It’s not their fault. I’m guilty of it, just being in the Finals so many times where I feel nothing. I just know it’s my job to go out and win. Really no joy in it; it’s just going to work.

Iggy has also maintained his brutal honesty with playoff vets like Kevon Looney and players playing in the playoffs for the first time like Jordan Poole. The third-year guard said Iggy “doesn’t leave any rock unturned,” and as a three-time champ, he coaches “how he sees the game unfold.”

“Extremely meticulous,” Poole said. “He likes to point out the details and small things. He has a lot of knowledge, and he’s willing to share, which is really cool to be a part of — He’s also extremely real. He’ll keep it a rack; he won’t sugarcoat anything. Being able to have him in our corner as a vet is huge.”

Iguodala’s knowledge as an 18-year vet and a player who played a significant role in the Warriors’ title runs as a versatile defender in Golden State’s small-ball lineups has earned him the ear of the younger Warriors.

His institutional knowledge of Golden State’s playstyle and culture has helped him stay in the League just as much as his quick hands, length, and athleticism. At 38-years-old, Iggy isn’t a part of the Warriors’ long-term plan, but for the time he’s relied on to be a strong voice on the bench.

He’s been given even more leeway as a veteran and player-coach because the Warriors championship core of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson trust him to help Poole, Kuminga, and Moody see what they see on the floor. Having him in their collective ear will only make playing on the biggest stage of basketball even more when it matters the most.

“He has access, not just physical access but emotional access that the coaching staff does not have,” Coach Steve Kerr said. “Frankly, there’s a trust factor that exists that can’t possibly exist between players and coaches. That’s why the role is so important. He has a different vantage point, and the guys believe in him so much, and he’s just brilliant at demanding and embracing and everything in between.”

Iggy awaits clearance for Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

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