NBA Rumors: Warriors Seen as Fourth Best Team in West Based on Rival Data Model | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats & Rumors

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors may not have made it to the play-in round last season, but one rival NBA team believes that will change in 2025.

After the Warriors added De’Anthony Melton, Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson this offseason, a rival team’s model projected the team to finish fourth in the Western Conference in 2024-25, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported.

“The Warriors believe they’ve gotten better this summer, team sources stressed, basing that in part on internal numerical models that put a positive value on the additions of Melton, Anderson and Hield,” Slater wrote. “A number of analytics-driven employees around the league agree.”

The Warriors finished the 2023–24 season with 46 wins, which placed them 10th in the league and earned a spot in the play-in round before the team’s season was ended by the Sacramento Kings.

That winning streak put the Warriors just five wins ahead of the Houston Rockets, missing the play-in round altogether. It also put the Warriors just five wins behind the Los Angeles Clippers for fourth place in the conference.

Some rival teams apparently believe the Warriors can get those extra five wins despite the midseason losses of Klay Thompson and Chris Paul now that their reserves have been bolstered with the additions of Melton, Hield and Anderson.

Some of the contenders at the top of the 2023-24 Western Conference could potentially take a step back in the standings next season, including the Denver Nuggets, who are dealing with the loss of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and the Los Angeles Clippers, who are dealing with the departure of Paul George.

But with other Western rivals like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks showing marked improvement this offseason, the Warriors will undoubtedly face stiff competition if the team wants to regain a top spot in the conference standings behind Curry next spring.