Top NBA executives still view Steph Curry as the league’s biggest threat, but don’t believe the Warriors are a true championship contender.
In the NBA’s anonymous GM survey released on Tuesday, a poll of 30 executives chose the Boston Celtics and reigning champion Denver Nuggets as the teams most likely to win a championship with the new-look Milwaukee Bucks as third most likely, followed by the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers.
“I don’t care. It makes no difference,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Tuesday. “It never did anything for me when people picked us. It doesn’t do anything for me when they don’t. It’s just interesting stuff for fans to read. Nothing helpful or harmful to us. It’s definitely not any bulletin board material. We’re not posting that on the locker-room wall, ‘No GMs picked us to win the title. How does that make you feel, fellas?’ I don’t think anybody cares.”
The poll has Golden State finishing fourth in the Western Conference with an 11% chance to win it behind the Nuggets, Suns and Los Angeles Lakers. Polled last season after the Warriors’ 2022 NBA title, the GMs had them at 48% chance to win the Western Conference.
Curry got plenty of love in the poll.
Asked which player forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments, 40% put Curry as the top choice with Denver’s Nikola Jokic at 33% and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo at 13%. Curry got the biggest landslide vote for best point guard in the league and best pure shooter.
Notably, Curry received 10% of the vote on who is the best shooting guard in the NBA; Phoenix’s Devin Booker got 63%. It’s a nod to Curry’s versatility on and off the ball — he could be even more of a force at shooting guard playing alongside point guard Chris Paul, who was voted as the player most likely to be a head coach one day and received votes as the best passer.
LeBron James edged Curry by a few votes for NBA’s best leader, getting 23% of the vote compared to the Lakers superstar’s 27%. Paul finished tied for fourth-best leader. General managers also voted Curry as the player they’d like most to take a shot with the game on the line (37%), with Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard the runners-up.