Dieter Kurtenbach: The Warriors' regular season is mercifully over. Hopefully the real end comes this week.

Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News on Apr 14, 2026

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The Golden State Warriors lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in Sunday’s regular-season finale.

Big deal. This team lost all the time this season.

The Dubs were locked into the 10-seed, whether they bothered to show up in Inglewood or not.

So go ahead and ignore the fact that they tried — really tried — until Los Angeles took their lunch money in the fourth quarter.

The Dubs have been focused on Wednesday’s play-in game (also against the Clippers) for weeks anyway.

Surely they’ll flip that proverbial switch and take down the Clippers when it’s win-or-go-home.

Right?

If you believe that, I have some James Wiseman All-NBA stock for sale.

Forgive the sarcasm, but this season broke my credulity meter months ago. Ever since Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in January, the only reprieve from this slog of a campaign has been the promise of a swift, merciful end.

Maybe we’ll finally get it on Wednesday.

And I won’t apologize for rooting for it.

I know the romantic counter-argument: We shouldn’t take any Steph Curry game for granted.

Cute, perhaps poetic in theory. But it’s total garbage in practice.

Because watching Curry try to drag a lifeless roster with zero chance at anything meaningful isn’t inspiring. It’s noblesse oblige.

Plus, these play-in games don’t actually count in the standings. They’re common-law basketball games. It’s hard to tell what I’m more over: the play-in tournament concept or this season’s Warriors.

Let’s just scratch both from the ledger.

The Dubs won’t be favored on Wednesday. If they advance, they’ll be underdogs again in the second game.

The competitive fire that used to fuel championships — or at least deep playoff runs — is now being wasted on the off-chance they can steal two home gates at Chase Center in a first-round bloodbath against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I know that the era of dominance is dead. The era of baseline competitiveness is likely in the grave right next to it.

But doesn’t this whole charade still feel a bit beneath the Warriors?

This is their third straight year slumming it in the play-in. They have exactly one playoff series win to show for it. But at least last year, with Butler in tow, the Warriors entered the play-in tournament as one of the best teams in basketball down the stretch.

This year, they’d be amongst the worst if not for so many teams in the league actively trying to lose on a night-in, night-out basis.

Aside from tapping the mystic realm, where should I be finding optimism going into the PIT?

Did the Dubs build any actual chemistry or templates for victory down the stretch? Did they hint at something greater, just waiting to be unleashed at the right time?

Did Curry and Kristaps Porzingis magically turn into Magic and Worthy in their sporadic handful of minutes together this month?

I’m not going to delude myself. Not at this juncture. I suggest you follow suit.

On Wednesday, the Clippers will get Kawhi Leonard back after the star forward sat out Sunday’s game. The Warriors get Draymond Green back. And, yes, Draymond has looked frisky now that he’s back alongside Steph, but let’s be real — that’s a wildly lopsided talent swap.

The Warriors will try their best on Wednesday because they’re hardwired that way. They don’t know any other way to play (not that it’s mattered much this season).

And, for all my snark, that’s the right way to approach the game. Heaven knows too many teams in the NBA do not share that mindset.

But for those of us living outside the arena, the absolute best outcome for the Warriors this upcoming week is a loss.

Give us finality to this cursed campaign — preceded by a nice early-week sojourn to Los Angeles for the team — and better ping-pong balls come May.

At 37-45, Golden State has the 11th-best lottery odds. That’s a nearly 10% chance at a top-four pick and a two percent prayer for the No. 1 overall. Frankly, that’s better than they deserve. (Thanks, Adam Silver!)

They should take the deal.

Because if they somehow manage to win two play-in games — aka screw this up — they bounce themselves right out of the lottery; they’d draft 15th.

Let’s be unequivocally clear: A sub-.500 team with a negative point differential is not the 15th-best team in basketball.

And if the basketball gods were just, the Warriors would be provided a play-in loss — Wednesday or Friday, either will do — and lottery luck.

Because, seriously, what’s more valuable to this franchise right now? A legitimate shot at Nate Ament or Yaxel Lendeborg at No. 11— to say nothing of the pipe dream at Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, or AJ Dybantsa? Or the pure, unadulterated delusion of contention and a non-lottery pick?

Take the ping-pong balls. End the suffering.

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