- Programming note: The American Century Championship will air Friday, July 11, from 1-3 p.m. PT on Peacock, and again from 5-7 p.m. PT on GOLF Channel. Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13, the tournament will air locally on NBC Bay Area (KNTV) from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. PT.
Age ain’t nothing but a number.
For the Warriors, they’re hoping that statement holds as they try to get one more ring for Steph Curry, who’s 37 going on 38 next March. Draymond Green is 35 years old, Jimmy Butler will be 36 before the 2025-26 NBA season starts.
For former NBA superstar Vince Carter, that doesn’t mean anything to him except more wisdom.
“A lotta knowledge,” Carter told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole on Thursday at the American Century Championship in South Lake Tahoe when asked about the aging Warriors stars. “They have an advantage because of knowledge. We always look at age and we think ‘Oh, they can’t do it. Can they do it? Will they do it? This this,’ but look at the knowledge.”
That knowledge has led Curry and Green to four NBA titles, the last of which many critics said would never happen.
Carter, who played 22 seasons in the league, says experience can sometimes benefit players and teams more than youthfulness.
“For me, and I’m going to speak about myself, first and foremost,” Carter told Poole. “Playing in that mid-to-late-30’s, maybe I didn’t jump [as] high, run as fast as some of the other young guys but my knowledge for the game, I can outsmart guys. You have all the athleticism and ability, but we know what those guys that you named can do.”
And what they can do has been evident for the last decade. Curry owns the all-time 3-point record with 4,058 makes during his 16-year NBA career. Green is recognized as one of the league’s best defenders of the past decade and Butler has won everywhere he’s played, once even leading the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals in dominating fashion.
The Warriors, though, need to see some of their younger players like Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and even someone like Quinten Post take the next leap in their careers.
“To me, you need a mixture of everything, so you have the veteran presence in the locker room, which a lot of teams die for – they have that,” Carter told Poole. “Now you have to put the young guys around that to guide them. You can’t expect those guys to do it every night.
“To me, the expectations for Steph, Draymond, even ‘Buckets’ to have to do it early. That’s not what I need you for. You see what I’m saying, I need you for later. I want to build up my young guys for the playoffs because those three guys know what it takes and know how to handle it.”
It’s not exactly time for the Warriors veterans to pass the torch down to their younger peers, but it’s time for a shift in balance, as Carter says, and that’s where the Dubs will be at their best this upcoming season.
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