OAKLAND, Calif. _ Kevin Durant was still in a hospital bed recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles in New York. Klay Thompson hobbled out of Oracle on crutches with a torn ACL. Once all of the tears were shed and the lockers cleared, this was the last night at Oracle and the Toronto Raptors left with the Larry O'Brien Trophy this was how it all would end for the Warriors dynasty.
But while the Raptors were seemingly still celebrating _ deservedly _ the first title in franchise history, goggles still in place on the champagne-soaked team hours after the Game 6, series-clinching win was complete, Caesars Sportsbook in Las Vegas released the odds on next year's NBA champion.
And it was the Warriors installed as a 3-1 favorite.
The Warriors face a very uncertain future with Durant and Thompson both free agents, and even if they return Durant will almost certainly miss the entire 2019-20 season and Thompson would be a late-season addition at best.
"It's a tough feeling being on this side of losing in The Finals," Steph Curry said. "But I think a lot has been proven about who we are as a team and the fight that we have and all the adversity that we dealt with in this entire playoff run. It's a one-possession game to keep our season alive tonight. So we'll be thinking about this one, it's tough. But our DNA and who we are and the character that we have on this team, I wouldn't bet against us being back on this stage next year and going forward. So really proud of the way that we fought until the end and this five-year run's been awesome, but definitely don't think it's over."
The Warriors won't need to tank even if they are without both players for the upcoming season. There is still Curry and Draymond Green as the core of the team. They can bring back Andre Iguodala and maybe Shaun Livingston decides not to retire. Kevon Looney is a free agent, but the team has his rights.
But the decisions won't be easy for ownership. Heading to a new arena the plan was to arrive with a stocked roster of stars _ the sort of sales pitch for the pricy suites that prompted the Nets to once mortgage their future for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry when they were headed to Brooklyn. Now the Warriors must decide if they will offer five-year max contracts to Durant and Thompson with the knowledge that neither might play next season.
"We can sit here and say, well, if this hadn't happened or that hadn't happened," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "That doesn't matter. What matters is Kevin Durant is going to miss next season with an Achilles tear and Klay suffered a knee injury. And we'll know, as I said, we'll know more before too long. But it's just brutal. It's just brutal of what these guys have had to deal with and what they're dealing with right now."
"Yeah. I think everybody thinks it's kind of the end of us," Green said. "But that's just not smart. We're not done yet. We lost this year. Clearly just wasn't our year, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. But, yeah, I hear a lot of that noise, it's the end of a run and all that jazz. I don't see it happening though. We'll be back."
