Kevin Durant Draymond Green Warriors
Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors high fives Kevin Durant #35 after making a basket against the Phoenix Suns at ORACLE Arena on October 22, 2018 in Oakland, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The Golden State Warriors have dominated the NBA headlines this week following Monday’s dust-up between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green. The incident led to a one-game suspension of Green, which has fueled speculation regarding the futures of both players with the team.

Perhaps Durant will leave as a free agent in 2019 or Golden State might explore trading Green this summer. Neither of those decisions, however, are likely to have an effect on the Warriors’ quest to win a third straight title.

With 12 wins in their first 15 games and the best record in the NBA, the Warriors remain the league’s top team by a wide margin. They are the overwhelming favorites to win the 2019 NBA Finals, and the latest controversy hasn’t changed that.

“I love both of those guys,” Klay Thompson said of Durant and Green, via The Undefeated. “And at the end of the day, we’re on the same team, with the same goal, and that’s the three-peat. I don’t think either of them will lose sight of that, whether it’s personal agenda or whatever. I think we’ll get far past it, and we’ll get back to that goal eventually, hopefully.”

There doesn’t appear to be a threat to Golden State in the West like there was last year. The Houston Rockets led the NBA with 65 wins a season ago and took the Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference Finals. The Rockets enter Thursday night’s contest against the Warriors with a losing record.

The Portland Trail Blazers have the second-best record in the West after being swept in the first round of last year’s playoffs. The Denver Nuggets are third, and they didn’t even reach the postseason a year ago.

Before suffering a groin injury, Stephen Curry was arguably playing the best basketball of his career. He leads the NBA in scoring, and Durant ranks fourth. The Warriors have three of the league’s top-19 scorers. No other team even has two top-19 scorers.

“Those dudes won a chip together,” one Warriors’ player told The Undefeated. “They will be brothers again tomorrow.”

Without the suspended Green or the injured Curry, the Warriors defeated the Atlanta Hawks 110-103 Tuesday night. Durant led Golden State with 29 points. The two-time NBA Finals MVP didn’t seem to want to talk about Monday’s incident, and he told reporters that he had yet to hash things out with Green.

Green is expected to be back in the starting lineup alongside Durant Thursday.

Basketball