MINNEAPOLIS – In one corner of the visiting locker room deep inside Target Center sat veteran Warriors big man Kevon Looney, wearing a sharp pair of shades and sipping an iced coffee as Wednesday turned to Thursday.
A little over an hour after the Warriors dropped a fourth consecutive game and were eliminated from their Western Conference semifinals playoff series to the Minnesota Timberwolves, one question still hung over the losing team as they got dressed, packed up some food and got ready for an early-morning flight back to the Bay Area.
“What if?”
What if Steph Curry, who reclined with his gimpy left hamstring some five yards to Looney’s right, had not suffered the injury early in Game 1 that kept him off the court the rest of the series?
What could the Warriors have accomplished at full strength?
“It will always be at the back of your mind, wondering ‘What if Steph was out there,’ but you can’t live in ‘what ifs’, that’s what my dad always talked about growing up,” Looney said.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr left no uncertainty when pondering where his Golden State squad might have ended up had Curry been healthy, Jimmy Butler been 100% and Draymond Green able to play his natural role.
The Warriors wanted to play “meaningful basketball,” and getting past Houston in seven games and playing the Wolves counted as that. But losing a series in five games for the first time in the Curry era was nowhere near the best possible outcome.
“I know we had a shot, and I know we could have gone the distance,” Kerr said, also noting that the Timberwolves were highly talented and adding, “Maybe we wouldn’t have, but it doesn’t matter. Everything in the playoffs is about who stays healthy and who gets hot.”
Draymond Green was lockstep with his coach, giving immense credit to the Timberwolves while also knowing the team could have competed for more than a second-round berth.
“I guess we did get as far as we could, but I still think we could have went further, and I’ll always think that,” Green opined.
Butler, whose arrival in a trade deadline deal helped save the Warriors’ regular season, conceded, “Obviously it’s very different when we don’t have Steph on the floor.
“I feel like everybody has to take on more and everybody has to play a little bit of a different role, but that’s just the game. Injuries happen, but it is a lot different with Steph not out there.”
The Warriors had reason to be confident in their abilities had Curry been present for more than just moral support.
The Warriors were leading the Timberwolves 30-20 in the series opener when Curry, who had scored 13 points and made a mockery of the Wolves’ suffocating defense, suffered his injury.
Golden State won the game, 99-88, but any residual Curry magic dissipated by the time Game 2 rolled around.
The Warriors still had veteran guile even without 37-year-old Curry, with Butler and Green, both 35 years old, being flanked by 30-somethings in Buddy Hield, Gary Payton II and Looney.
The young legs of the Wolves won out in the end, using a 9-0 run to create a 15-point cushion heading into halftime, and more bursts to stay ahead of a Warriors team that tried its best to remain competitive.
Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) reaches for a loose ball during the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Kerr expressed optimism when looking ahead to the next season, when the Warriors will have a full season of the trio that helped the team rocket from the doldrums to a 23-8 record to end the regular season.
But that star-studded trio, all bound for the Hall of Fame, are creeping ever-closer to the end of their storied careers, and injuries will forever loom over players of that age.
Twenty-six-point scorer Jonathan Kuminga is headed for restricted free agency and cap space is tight.
Even if the Warriors run it back with their long-in-the-tooth role players, how many more chances will the franchise get with that core?
Green is optimistic.
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“I don’t worry about that one bit, because I feel like I’m still improving, Jimmy is still improving and Steph is still improving,” Green said.
Back in the locker room, the postgame vibes seemed remarkably similar to any other game.
Hield cracked one last joke with Butler and Looney, and Moody sat quietly in his locker next to Trayce Jackson-Davis.
On the other side of the room, Gui Santos chatted with Braxton Key, and team-high scorer Brandin Podziemski (28 points) changed into a bright orange Edmonton Oilers jersey before heading to the postgame podium to break down the loss.
But within that normalcy, “what if” remained.
“He’s the best player in the world, and it’s so tough to guard him,” Santos said of Curry. “He opens up space for everybody else.”
“We definitely missed him.”
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, middle, sits before Game 5 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)