I mean, they were so excited leading into the draft and in the fact that Wiseman was there at number two, he was number one on their board, and they were just really looking forward to having Steph Curry Draymond and then plugging in Wiseman and seeing what we could give them and then the range of emotions in those a couple hours before the draft.

And then after the draft, they really couldn't even celebrate because everybody was so sad about Clay.

I mean, he is the guy behind the scenes with all the star power in that locker room that sets the tone for everybody else.

And that's why Kerr and all those players, they love him.

And so to know that he's gonna be out again for another year was just crushing for everybody involved.

Now, can you give us any insight into how Bob Myers and company dealt with the news of Clay Thompson literally hours before the NBA draft?

Did that make their decision challenging, more challenging?

Looking at other guys like Lemelle a ball, considering he was gonna be available?

J.

Bob addressed that right afterwards and said, Look, Wiseman was our guy.

If he was there, we were taking him.

And obviously the emotions involved right before the pick or unprecedented wave really never seen anything like it before, where a star player who has won titles in an organization gets another serious injury right before you got to make a a huge selection for your future.

But all along, when you talk to people in the organization, they love what Wiseman could give them.

And they're confident that once he gets into their system plain and learning alongside Draymond that he can be maybe that bridge or or potentially down the line, a tray piece.

Nobody knows for sure, but Wiseman all along was their guy, and I just don't think anything that happened with Clay changed the focus when he was there.

Number two Nick.

Is there any concern within the organization that whenever Clay's out, the volume that then is put on the shoulders of Stefan Curry seems to be incredible, right?

But those him playing at that buying with the ball in his hands, it seems like that inevitably has led to injuries for him is well, what are they doing to combat that style wise How are they trying to lessen the load on stuff?

Well, Jay, that's something that they're trying to figure out as we speak.

And over the next few weeks, they're going to have toe find different ways because I'm with you when you watch stuff those last couple of years and certainly going in the last season when they knew they weren't gonna have Clay the question was, Well, just how much is gonna be on Steph Shoulders?

And Steve Kerr was pretty honest up front.

He said Stuff, minutes, they're gonna be limited.

I mean, we're trying to get him toe 32 33 minutes a game.

So to try and balance that again now in juggle the fact that Clay is not gonna be out there, uh, it's going to be difficult.

That's that's a little older.

I mean, as much.

Aziz, he wants to be the guy, and he could still fill it up from anywhere on the floor.

This isn't the same player of a few years ago.

There's gotta be some balance, I think Kelly you gray When that deal finally becomes official, I think he'll help offensively and they're banking on Wiggins Guys to be more motivated night tonight to take some of that burden off steps, especially on the offensive end.

But there's no way around it.

You lose, Clay.

More pressure is gonna be on Steph to deliver.

And as much as he may want to, everybody knows he's gonna have the ball and he's gonna be shooting it a Z much as we've seen Nick.

How does this injury affect the style of play, though, for the Warriors like what are they gonna do?

Are they gonna change or they gonna just try toe stick with the same style G.

I think they've got to stick with the system.

They've just got to keep running it and running it and hope that it works in a similar fashion.

Because, guys, let's face it, all the players that were named aside from Wiseman, who's still kind of a question mark on what he's gonna be able to do on the N B A level.

These are all offensive guys.

I mean, Draymond is the key piece defensively, but after that you're not relying on Steph or Wiggins.

Are you bray any of these guys that give you some huge defensive edge night tonight, they're gonna have to outscore people.

And the the guilty in all of this to May is they trust in the system that Steve Kerr has put in place.

And when you take clay out of that, I just don't think a championship is possible.

Uh, he did too much on too many levels for the group, but they could still be competitive.

But to your point, you have to be competitive by racing up and down the floor.

You can't rely on some defensive prowess that hasn't been there when you're taking guys like K D, Andre Iguodala, all these different guys Shawn Livingston.

Over time, I mean, people have to understand guys, these warriors coming up, we're gonna be different.

Even if Clay was healthy now, he's not again.

And thes warriors are the warriors that we came to know and respect when they were making all those championship runs the last few years.

I'm glad you brought that up because I wanna ask you without being a homer like myself, a Laker homer.

But, um where would you have had them?

With clay in the West and without clay?

Now, where would you have him Thio before the season.

I mean, in the last week, I figured if you plugged Wiseman in, if he was the guy, I thought the Warriors could be in that top four in the West and really push in the postseason because we all know nobody wanted to see Steph Klay and Dray Mond playoffs.

After all the experience to say that now, honestly, I think in a best case this is probably a five or six seed, and this ties back into what Jay was talking about earlier.

This is banking on Steph staying healthy and producing at that high high level, and Draymond be motivated and setting that tone defensively night after night, Wiseman developing to a point where they can count on him for all the things they're going to need him to fill in and do.

And Wiggins showing a different side of his game that he didn't show consistently in Minnesota.

So there are a lot of question marks on this roster, and they're they're always work.

But again, Clay was kind of a safety net for everybody.

He just went about his business.

He dominated on both ends of the floor at times and he went home Occur has called him the Eagle a superstar many, many times.

If you take him out of that, that picture in There are a lot of different issues with the roster that Bob Myers and his staff were gonna have to fill up their soon thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content subscribed to ESPN plus right now.