[What to watch in the new season] Four 35-year-old starters are unique in history. Can the Golden State "Centennial Mountain" team create a veteran legend?

The new regular season will officially start in 4 days. An aging team in San Francisco is trying to "rejuvenate" and sound the charge to the championship for the last time.

Today’s highlight of the new season, let’s focus on the Golden State Warriors, who have maintained the excitement throughout the offseason through farce and are racing against Father Time.

Last season had several twists and turns

The Warriors' journey last season could be described as "twists and turns." They once occupied the top spot in the Western Conference with a record of 9 wins and 2 losses at the beginning of the season, but fell into a long period of struggle in December and January, and fell out of the play-offs in early February.

Until Jimmy Butler's trade reversed everything, the Warriors achieved an outstanding record of 23 wins and 8 losses after Butler's arrival. Their offensive efficiency rose from 19th to 9th in the league, and their defensive efficiency rose from 10th to 1st in the league. They eventually qualified for the playoffs as seventh in the Western Conference.

After sprinting all the way to the Rockets in seven fierce battles at the end of the regular season, the Warriors' successful "Black Seven" proved that Curry + Butler can still bring a very high ceiling to the team. However, Curry's hamstring injury in G1 in the second round brought the Warriors' season to an abrupt end.

Although the charge of the veterans failed once again, the ups and downs of this season seem to tell us that the Warriors have not given up on returning to the highest stage and will definitely fight hard in the new season.

The summer of being "single-defended" by Kuminga

This summer's soap opera between the Warriors and Kuminga almost contracted the NBA's entire offseason traffic. Kuminga single-handedly successfully prevented all the Warriors' signing plans.

The two sides have been unable to reach an agreement for several months. Kuminga insisted on adding a player option to the contract, while the Warriors insisted on not adding a player option. The differences between the two sides were very clear but incompatible.

Such a tug-of-war directly resulted in the Warriors being unable to sign other players in the free market. In order to prevent other teams from "stealing chicken" offers to Kuminga without having enough space to match, the Warriors could only maintain verbal agreements with interested players during the offseason. This also led to Brogdon being snatched away by the Knicks first.

Until October 1, after Kuminga finally accepted a two-year, $48.5 million contract (with player options), the Warriors completed multiple operations in one day:

-Two years and $12 million to sign Horford. Welcome back Melton

- Signed No. 52 pick Toohey and veteran Spencer to two two-way contracts

- Signed Seth Curry to a one-year contract (formally signed a standard contract in November)

The long soap opera has come to an end, but will the rift that arose during the negotiation process and the short training time with the new aid affect the chemical reaction in the new season?

Historical aging lineup

Time has never been a friend to the Warriors.

When it comes to today's Warriors, "old" is an inseparable label. Most of the team's main rotations are senior comrades - Curry (37 years old), Butler (36 years old), Green (35 years old), Horford (39 years old), Hield (32 years old), Payton Jr. (32 years old), Curry Jr. (35 years old)...

The average age of the potential starting lineup Curry-Hield-Butler-Green-Horford is as high as 35.8 years old. If it comes true, this will also create a new record for the average age of the starting lineup in NBA history.

Although Horford can bring the coveted shooting + golf intelligence + switching defense to Golden State, the Celtics have used him sparingly in the past two seasons. It is feasible for the 39-year-old "cook" to take more frequent rotations in the new season.

In addition, although the core trio of "Kuchiba" has maintained good attendance in the past two years, the long regular season will place an increasing burden on the aging core players. The team naturally does not want to have a situation similar to last season where Curry burned out early and was unable to play due to a hamstring injury.

Whether they can enter the playoffs with all members healthy will be a major test for the Warriors in the new season.

Curry’s final sprint?

The 37-year-old Curry is still regarded as one of the top ten players in the league:

-In the ESPN Top 100 Stars rankings for the 25-26 season, Curry ranked 7th

-In the league general manager survey prediction announced by the NBA official website, Curry won the top shooter, best off-ball player, best leader in the league, most trustworthy key player, and among the point guards Ranked third among players who are difficult to defend in a targeted manner

In the first round of last season's playoffs, facing the best defensive player Amen and the Rockets' forward group, Curry was still able to develop the offense with difficulty. He averaged 24 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game, with a true shooting percentage of 63%. This once again proved that he still has the strength to be the team's top player in the playoffs.

The discussion about how long it will take for Curry to reach his peak is still continuing, but perhaps the departure time is closer than we think. This can also be seen from the side of the team's contract design -

Curry has two years and $120 million left on his contract, and Butler has two years left on his contract. 110 million U.S. dollars, and Green has two years and 52 million U.S. dollars left in his contract...

By the 2027-28 season, Moody is the only one in the Warriors who still has a guaranteed contract. This undoubtedly heralds the drastic changes that will occur in the team by then. As for Curry, will he retire after two years? Or should we stay and continue climbing based on management's instructions? None of this is known yet.

The only thing that is certain is that the end point of Curry's sprint is not too far away. Before the foreseeable future arrives, every game is worth cherishing.