In December, Steph Curry began his Christmas Day addressing a players-only meeting at the Chase Center ahead of the game against the Lakers. Curry followed it up with his best performance of the season, but couldn’t prevent his team from losing. Then after a topsy-turvy end to 2024, Curry hoped for a turnaround in the new year. The Warriors responded with two straight wins at the turn of the calendar, but the team is back to its familiar failings.

Against the Miami Heat on Tuesday night, Curry once again fought as the lone warrior. He scored 31 points, but for the second game running he had zero assists to his name. The end result was the Warriors falling to a second consecutive defeat as a Jimmy Butler-less Miami saw them off 114-98. Apart from the game being a disappointing outing for Steve Kerr’s side, Curry’s reaction after being substituted with three minutes left and down by 12, is going viral.

In a video shared by The Atheltic’s Anthony Slater, we can see Curry slowly walk toward the bench visibly exasperated. He continued to pace on the sidelines with his head held down, before finally taking his place on the bench and putting a towel over his head. Earlier in the first half Curry also showed his frustration with his team’s failure to convert their chances.

Despite playing at home against a depleted side, the Warriors were trailing Miami by 29-42 with more than seven minutes remaining in the first half. During a timeout, Curry went over to the bench and slammed a chair in frustration, perhaps summing up the feeling of the majority of the Dub Nation.

Curry had every reason to be agitated. Even though he put up a game-high 20 points in the first half, he didn’t receive the same support from his teammates. They consistently failed to hit the mark as the Warriors went just 19-for-55 for shooting and 8-for-29 from downtown in the first half.

The lack of output from the offense is a matter of concern and something that the Golden State Warriors front office needs to address. For the last month and a half, the Warriors have been one of the poorest offensive teams in the NBA. They are ranked among the bottom six in offensive efficiency and near the bottom in free throws made and layovers.

Not only Heat were without their star player- Butler, but they were also coming on the back of an OT defeat against the Kings just a day ago. Yet, the Warriors were unable to capitalize. Steve Kerr’s team only shot 40.8% from the field while allowing the Heat to make 47.3% of their attempts, including 40.0% from long distance.

If Curry’s body language during the defeat was not enough of an indication of his growing discontent, his comments afterward certainly made it clear. “Back-to-back no-shows pretty much. These are winnable games against teams that for whatever reason are around the same place in the standings (with us), and (they) come in and have (amazing) games against us. Even Miami, they played in a double overtime game last night, came in here and whooped us.”

“[I’m] just p****d off,” Curry further told reporters. “You’re trying to figure it out. Everybody in the locker room is kind of searching a little bit. [We’re] trying to understand what’s going wrong, why we can’t get off to better starts.”

The Warriors had a 12-3 start to the season but lost 11 of their next 14 games including the Christmas Day defeat to the Lakers. They currently have an 18-18 record and sit 10th in the Western Conference. Things could have been more woeful had Curry not been in their ranks or if he had struggled for form.

Against Miami, if we take out Curry’s effort, the rest of the team went 29-76 from the field and a poor 6-33 from three. This defeat reaffirms the fanbase’s belief that the team needs to add star power to help Curry. Meanwhile, seeing their star’s frustration after the Miami loss, many fans took to social media to rally around Curry and criticize the Warriors front office.

NBA world “heartbroken” over Curry’s predicament with Warriors

After the Christmas Day defeat, Curry had urged his teammates to keep fighting. “It is an inflection point on obviously which direction our season can go. Our last 14 games, it’s just been tough trying to find any type of momentum or consistency, and through that, you just can’t lose spirit and belief that we’re a good enough team to figure it out because this league is ruthless,” he said. Indeed, the Warriors were given a taste of how ruthless the league is.

The Warriors lost their next game to the Clippers before bouncing back with a win over the Suns. However, a defeat to the Cavaliers rounded off their miserable year. Many fans only expressed sympathy toward Curry while blaming the Warriors’ front office for the team’s struggle. One fan wrote, “Front office is pathetic.”

Curry agreed to a one-year, $63m extension last year in August, which keeps him at Golden State through the 2026-27 season. But could his growing frustration with the franchise lead to a trade before that? While he expressed his desire to remain a ‘Warrior for life,’ he also said, “I’ll continue to make the decisions that are best for me and for my career at the end of the day when it comes to just the imagination. I want to win. Let’s put it this way, it’s a longwinded way of saying that it if it is a situation where you’re a bottom feeder and it’s just because you want to stay there, I’d have a hard time with that.”

Some fans really want what is better for Curry, with one fan urging, “Bruh get this man some help trade any and everybody smh.” Mike Dunleavy, Warriors GM had multiple chances to acquire stars like Paul George and Lauri Markkanen earlier in the season but opted to keep the young core intact. While some may deem it necessary to build for the future, a lack of quality investment has hindered progress at the moment.

When they lost Klay Thompson to free agency, many expected the franchise to land a big-name signing, but it never arrived. Yes, acquisitions like Kyle Anderson,  De’Anthony Melton, and Buddy Hield did bolster the side, but they were hardly game-changing signings. One fan echoing the sentiment of many who asked the front office to help out Stephen Curry wrote, “GET STEPH SOME HELP MAN MY HEART IS BROKEN.”

Well, the Warriors cannot have it both ways. They can either focus on building the future or winning now while Steph is still playing at a high level. And fans want the front office to choose the latter option and make a trade before the February deadline. Maybe for someone like Jimmy Butler or Bradley Beal.

And if they cannot do it, the Curry faithful are also urging him to find a better situation for himself with one fan commenting, “Request a trade king, they don’t deserve you @StephenCurry30.” Coach Kerr understands Curry’s frustrations but said he was happy with the current roster deflecting questions about showing urgency before the trade deadline to make additions. “Those questions are for Mike,” Kerr clarified.

Mike Dunleavy is certainly not escaping blame for the Curry’s and Warriors’ situation at large. One fan blatantly noted, “Get a new GM,” while another user pointed out, “I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THE FRONT OFFICE PATHETIC CLOWNS.” 

The Warriors need significant additions to reach the mountaintop once again. With time running out for Curry, will the front office build a team capable of challenging in the next two years? If Curry doesn’t see any such signs, it won’t be too hard to imagine him taking his talents elsewhere and giving himself a shot at winning the NBA before he hangs up his boots.