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Mike Dunleavy's optimistic ‘path' to NBA title for Warriors is Fantasy Lane
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- Mike Dunleavy's optimistic ‘path' to NBA title for Warriors is Fantasy Lane
Mike Dunleavy's optimistic 'path' to NBA title for Warriors is Fantasy Lane originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
There was no winking, no flinching, no nodding and no detectable sarcasm Tuesday when the optimism of Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy blasted into overdrive.
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Asked if Golden State's current roster has the potential to win an NBA championship next season, Dunleavy floored it.
"I see a path because you have Steph Curry ," Dunleavy said. "Steve Kerr is a proven championship coach. We've got really good players. We need to get healthy. We need to stay healthy, and then we need to evaluate and see where we're at. And if we need to get better, I know we can get better. So, there's a path."
"It may not be clear to a lot of people, but there's a path."
Please, no giggling. Just because you can't visualize a parade in San Francisco next June doesn't mean it's impossible. Any clear-eyed glance would conclude that it's highly, highly, highly improbable.
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But it's reasonable to wonder where on this earth Dunleavy found a pair of glasses that allows him, on Aug. 11, 2026, to see these Warriors looking down on the NBA next June.
The Warriors last season finished 10th in the Western Conference, with a 37-45 record that trailed 19 other teams. They were the best of the league's 11 sub-.500 squads. They were slowed by age, derailed by injuries, limping over the second half of the season with roster whose quality depth turned out to be a mirage.
Dunleavy and his front-office crew, led by CEO Joe Lacob, saw enough last season to realize they needed to re-arm the roster. They peeped out Celtics star Jaylen Brown before he was traded to the 76ers , and purposely positioned themselves to receive consideration from LeBron James before he opted to sign with Philadelphia .
They knew in April that they lacked the goods to compete at the highest levels of the league.
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And yet, four months later, without any appreciable roster upgrades – and knowing Golden State could be without Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody for the first half of next season – Dunleavy can see "a path" to the top.
If the Warriors somehow win the 2027 NBA Finals, it would be a shocker for the ages. It would rank alongside The Miracle on Ice, Buster Douglas humiliating Mike Tyson and, yes, the underdog 1975 Warriors sweeping the Washington Bullets in The Finals.
Dunleavy's words would hold their own against, say, Joe Namath's prediction that his AFL champion New York Jets would take down the NFL champion Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, who were 18-point favorites.
"That's kind of what you're aiming for," Dunleavy said of a title. "You need some good luck. You need some good fortune. You need some things to bounce your way. But I think we're in a position right now where there's a path.
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"We're not going to be the No. 1 favorites in Vegas on the books right now, but that's not what we're trying to do. We're not trying to win the championship in August. We're trying to put ourselves in a position to compete the postseason, come April, May, and June."
Dunleavy is right about Vegas. The Warriors are listed 15th on Vegas Insider's 2027 championship odds, below the Houston Rockets and above the Atlanta Hawks . Kalshi is giving Golden State a two-percent chance to win it all, with 12 teams claiming better odds.
The "path" of which Dunleavy speaks looks a lot like the path through a shiver of sharks. The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder sit not only atop the odds for the West but also the entire league. They are followed by the defending champion New York Knicks and absurdly reloaded 76ers.
Put simply, there are countless legitimate reasons why Golden State is projected to post another sub-.500 finish.
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For the Warriors to finish among the top six in the West – which would be a rousing success – it will require almost everything going splendidly for them while identifiable contenders are coping with considerable ill fate.
The Warriors would need vastly improved availability from veterans often sidelined last season.
They'd need Curry to summon the best season ever submitted by a man who will be 39 years old. They'd need Butler, who will be 37 and coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL, to return by midseason and make a similar impact to that when he was acquired in February 2025. They'd need Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis to be healthy enough to combine for 125 games.
They'd need rookie Yaxel Lendeborg to deliver a season worthy of Rookie of the Year votes.
Yes, there is a path. Fantasy Lane. And it takes illusory vision to see the Warriors making it all the way to the end of the road.
