Three years ago, Joe Lacob told a reporter what Dubs fans wanted to hear: “Certainly, we’d like Steph, Draymond, and Klay to retire as Warriors. That is my goal, our goal.” Klay didn’t get there, as he left for Dallas before his career wound down, but Curry and Green are still on track to finish as Warriors. Now, days after Golden State came up empty in their pursuit of LeBron James, the same owner appears focused on something fans definitely didn’t want to hear.

“What Lacob wants to do, and this might get Warriors fans mad, is build the next team after Steph Curry,” Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard said on The TK Show. “I don’t know how possible that is, but Lacob has a very keen interest in: ‘This organization is going to show what it can do with Steph Curry, and then after Steph Curry.’”

The Warriors spent this summer chasing James as their chance to add a true difference-maker alongside Curry, Green, and Jimmy Butler. But when LeBron instead signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State was left with a roster that doesn’t clearly commit to either winning now or building for the future.

The ideal vision of Curry chasing his fifth ring is clear, but fans have questions. Should the front office have used its offseason to draft 23-year-old prospect Yaxel Lendeborg, re-sign 40-year-old Al Horford, and also bring back Kristaps Porziņģis on a two-year, $40 million deal? Those moves seem less like an all-in effort around Curry’s remaining prime and more like a franchise hedging toward its next era, exactly the split Kawakami says Lacob is comfortable with.

Complicating matters further, Jimmy Butler is still recovering from a torn ACL and underwent surgery in early February. The current situation eerily resembles what happened in the 2019-20 season. Thompson suffered a major Achilles injury in the playoffs, and Kevin Durant also left the team. Things were already bad when Curry broke his hand in the fourth game of that season, missing a significant portion of games. The Dubs finished 15-50 that year…

However, Kawakami downplayed any sense of urgency about trading Butler, even though several reports linked him to other teams to create cap space to sign LeBron.

“They’re gonna play it out, there’s no reason to do anything with his contract,” Kawakami said. “If he plays it out and doesn’t come back, that’s $53 million that comes off their cap. They can trade him at the deadline as an expiring and get back money. They could let him go and get under the cap. I don’t think there’s any rush on this. I think they like him a lot.”

Likewise, Butler has publicly stated his desire to stay in the Bay Area and said they’re “expected to win at a high level.” The problem, however, is that he won’t be on the court until February 2027 at the earliest. ESPN’s Anthony Slater recently even called that timeline “an unfair burden” on the player, given he is 37.

Butler is set to earn just under $57 million next season before hitting free agency in 2027, the same summer Curry’s contract expires. Meanwhile, Steve Kerr needs to find a way to keep this team competitive for at least 65% of next season with one of its pillars absent. Do keep in mind that Curry’s lingering knee injury also kept him out for two months last season. The Bay Area team’s unpredictability factor is disturbingly high at this point in time.

Curry had expressed a positive sentiment toward turning the narrative around. After Golden State’s play-in loss to Phoenix, he was open to discussing the team’s issues in his exit interview, then stepped back from public comments about his future.

“I think we can reshape the narrative,” Curry said at the time. “Knowing in the back of our mind that is the ultimate goal, but we have to get back to the basics of what makes a good basketball team, a competitive basketball team every single night. Realize how hard it is to win in this league, but can we rethink how we do things with the foundation we’ve established? We don’t have to keep saying championship, championship, championship every day, even though we’ve experienced that… We have to put everything on the drawing board to get back to just being competitive every single night.”

Had James joined the Warriors, let’s be realistic, there was a very real chance that both legends could have gotten injured and missed a significant part of the season. But then, fans at least would have appreciated the fact that GM Mike Dunleavy and Joe Lacob made an urgent win-now move to try and maximize Curry’s final window. With the 76ers winning the LeBron race, the Dubs aren’t left with a bad team, but they certainly aren’t contenders either.

And that frustration from stagnancy, having only made it past the conference semifinals once in the last seven seasons, caused fans to question whether Kerr’s contract should be extended. However, the front office showed faith in the veteran coach and gave him a two-year extension through the 2027-28 season.

Draymond Green, who chose not to exercise his $27.68 million player option to reportedly help the Warriors sign James, is expected to re-sign for about the same amount, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

Insider Brett Siegel mentioned that the Warriors were definitely waiting for James’ verdict, which would “dictate their other moves.” Now that the dream move hasn’t panned out, Lacob’s front office will reportedly pivot toward a former target, veteran big man Kelly Olynyk, who will bring experience to their frontcourt with shooting, passing, and floor-spacing ability. DeMar DeRozan has also been linked as a “Plan B” to add offensive firepower for the franchise.

The Dubs’ first-round draft pick, Yaxel Lendeborg, also appears to have a clear path to the starting lineup after averaging 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4 assists per game while shooting nearly 36% from three-point range in the Summer League.

That said, Golden State has already tried a two-timeline approach once, pairing Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson with young prospects James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody. But it didn’t succeed, as Wiseman became one of the franchise’s most costly draft busts, and Kuminga was eventually traded without reaching the star potential they hoped for.

It’s going to be a nervous next season for everyone in the Bay Area.