The Golden State Warriors enter the 2018-19 season with an eye toward a third consecutive NBA championship and, according to most, Steve Kerr and company are the prohibitive favorite to capture another Larry O’Brien Trophy. Though the franchise’s recent success is already remarkable, claiming a third consecutive title would place the Warriors in rarefied air and, as a result, the natural comparisons to the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls have been present for a long time.
Because Kerr has the direct connection as a player on three title teams in Chicago, he was prompted to compare the two situations at the outset of the season. While it isn’t a surprise that he didn’t fully embrace the comparison, Kerr’s angle on things being different is an interesting one.
“I think the difference is with Phil [Jackson] in ’98 we all were free agents and we all knew we were all going to be gone, including Phil,” Kerr said, via Nick Friedell of ESPN. “But we’re not in that same position. We do have plenty of free agents, but we’re not looking at this as the final dance. Like I said, we want to have some fun and enjoy what we have this year and move on from there.”
As Kerr notes, the Warriors aren’t guaranteed to bring back the same roster for the 2019-20 season, as Klay Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins will hit free agency, while Kevin Durant has the power to do so by declining a player option. However, his push-back is warranted in that the team’s centerpiece, Stephen Curry, is under contract for three additional seasons after 2018-19 (with Draymond Green signed up through 2020) and, as of right now, we know that Thompson at the very least wants to stick around.
Of course, anything can happen, but it is certainly a big difference and one that probably is acknowledged enough at this juncture. It is entirely possible that the 2018-19 season could be the final one in which Golden State enters as the consensus favorite to end the year at the top but, given the talent and overall franchise stability, it doesn’t appear as if the Warriors are going to break up any time soon in the way that Jordan and the Bulls did in 1998.
