Preview: Nothing matters after Curry

Golden State takes on Portland, in what could potentially the last pre-trade game

[Author’s note: This article was published as incomplete draft - my phone notes on the way to the show. Apologies for the error! Was likely the fault of my haters and/or AI.]

The Golden State Warriors are up against the Portland Trail Blazers tonight in a game that holds meaning both in the standings, as well as this specific head to head matchup (Warriors are hoping to avoid getting swept on the regular season).

A win is the goal, but there are some other winds blowing through this team right now, as the robust aromas of the trade rumors are fragrantly wafting through hallways and drawing attention towards what might be. Thursday is the day that the Warriors can officially trade Kuminga, but the back channels are wide open and buzzing.

Which is why this game, on a random Tuesday night in January, feels heavier than it should. Not because Portland is some looming rival, or because the standings demand urgency - but because this is what limbo looks like. These are the nights where the world is watching with one eye on the floor and the other on the phones.

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GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors (21-19) Portland Trail Blazers (19-21)

WHEN: Tuesday, January 13th, 2026; 8pm (yes eight, that’s what it says)

WATCH: NBCSBA

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On impermanence - and eating packets of sugar at the beginning of a meeting

All of which brings me, oddly enough, to a story about impermanence. And sugar. And the quiet ways people signal that they already know how something is going to end.

Back when I was working my way through college in restaurants, I had a coworker named Dino¹ who despised the mandatory staff meetings. We were working for tips, not the measly minimum wage that the place paid us, so showing up off hours (generally in the morning) was a pain for us bartenders and servers. So each quarter, when they had the mandatory meetings, he’d sit right in front, pull over that little square plastic vessel of sugar and fake sugar that is omnipresent at places that serve your silverware wrapped in your napkin - and he’d start eating the sugar packets.

One by one. Rip the top off, tip it back into his mouth a few times, and then roll it up and place it on the table in front of him. You see, he was making himself into a time bomb. There’s only so many sugar packets a 23 year old guy can eat before the shenanigans come out to play. The message was clear, “I’m not here for long, so make this time count.”

Likewise, I’m going to make this one of my briefest previews ever, because the main point for today’s game is about what comes next.² What are the Warriors going to do with their lottery pick that has been glued to the bench? The guy they couldn’t trade over the offseason is now at the fulcrum of whatever this next pivot is going to look like.

Curry’s time is dwindling, and the Warriors ability to reload, meaningfully has mostly sailed by. First Wiseman, and now Kuminga. Two critically essential assets, two draft picks that didn’t pan out for much.

And this is the cost of living between eras. Not bad process, not negligence - just the brutal math of trying to compete while transitioning. The Warriors didn’t fail because they stopped being smart; they failed because threading the needle between contention and succession is the hardest trick in the league. Kuminga isn’t just a player here - he’s the last movable symbol of a plan that never quite crystallized.

To be fair Kuminga isn’t a bad player, and teams are interested in him for the same reasons that the Warriors drafted him.

The newest rumor? How about the Lakers?

“The Lakers did call Golden State about Kuminga during the sides’ summer standoff in restricted free agency,” Fischer wrote Monday in The Stein Line. “I’m told that the Lakers have likewise continued to monitor Kuminga’s situation while casting a wide net to try to find help on a very limited wing market…
…Around the league, Kuminga is increasingly viewed as a potential buy-low candidate — not because his talent has diminished, but because his role in Golden State has narrowed.

Any deal for Kuminga is likely going to involve more than just two teams. The salary structures and trade restrictions are such that the Warriors would almost certainly need to involve another team if they hope to get a player that is better - right now - than Kuminga. And that is indeed the task here. Golden State’s big next step is that they’re not looking for number 7 or 8 in the rotation, they need a 3rd or 4th option. And that’s probably going to require some sweetener.

It’s time to toss in anything and everything, if it moves the needle.

Most of the bench is fine - and more importantly cheap. With Melton and Horford beginning to get in the swing of the game, the back end of the roster is decent. But the reason that last loss hurt so much is because of how empty the stat sheet was outside of Curry and Butler.

I’m with you Reddit person “anyone but Curry”

Curry had 31 points, Butler had 30, and then only one other player touched double digits - and they had 10. The Warriors need to maximize this window with Curry. I don’t know what comes next, but this isn’t the time to hang onto your future options. Now matters.

Prediction

Big win. Curry bends the geometry, Butler applies pressure where it hurts, and the rest of the roster doesn’t need to be great.

1. No relation to our beloved DNHQ member; my guy went on to cover WWE wrestling and stuff; both great dudes though.

2. It’s also 12:19 and I just got back from a sweaty mosh pit in San Francisco.