PRACTICE BEFORE GAME 2 of the NBA Finals had not begun yet, but rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody took a moment on the Golden State Warriors bench to soak up the rare atmosphere inside Chase Center.
Everywhere their young eyes turned, there was a not-so-subtle reminder of exactly where they were. Flashing repeatedly on the gigantic big screen, on the LED board that wraps around the arena, on the scorer's table and even on the seats they were sitting in, the NBA Finals cursive-script logo and Larry O'Brien Trophy were impossible to miss. «What do you think?» Kuminga asked Moody as they looked at the Finals signage. «What do you think when it's us running this team one day?» While Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were fortifying the Golden State dynasty by winning their fourth championship in eight years and defeating the Boston Celtics, the Warriors were also doing something that no champion in recent memory has done.
As coach Steve Kerr put it, the Warriors were also «raising» two 2021 NBA lottery picks during this title run and hoping the championship masterclass Kerr and his Big Three delivered each day of their quest left a permanent imprint on the pair. «They're going to have to [eventually] chart their own course, and fight their own fight,» said Bob Myers, the Warriors' president of basketball operations. «They're lucky that they get to see what it looks like. »Steph, Klay and Draymond never got this advanced kind of scouting on what the Finals is and the playoffs.
They had to go through it and find a path. This is why it's huge for young guys to just taste it, see it and hopefully crave it." Kuminga and Moody will be parading down Market Street in San Francisco with the Larry O'Brien Trophy