MINNEAPOLIS — The Warriors’ four-game road trip included a gritty win over Detroit, a shorthanded, lifeless defeat in Indiana, a new nadir on the season in Toronto and then an inspired victory over Minnesota. 

Hijacking all the ups and downs was discourse — mostly self-generated and reasonable — about the existential direction of the franchise. Steph Curry, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green, three of the most important voices in the organization, each publicly expressed their aversion to what they deem a desperate or reckless trade aimed at improving now while disregarding the future.

After dropping 31 points in a season-high 37 minutes to lead the Warriors past the Timberwolves, Curry used his on-court interview to tell fans with “Twitter fingers” to cool it on the trade machine and let the Warriors figure things out.

“I hope there’s not a misconception that we’re not fighting and scrapping and hoping that we can do everything possible to keep this thing going,” Kerr said. “Because that’s what we’re doing. It almost feels like the narrative became, ‘The Warriors are giving in.’ We’re not giving in, we’re just not giving away the future. Those are two totally different things. We’re fighting.”

The self-inflicted talk show fodder began when Green told Yahoo Sports that he, Kerr and Curry mutually disagree with mortgaging the team’s future. Curry and Kerr, when asked about his comments, concurred in as many words.

That set off a firestorm of discourse online and on television. People theorized incorrectly that this was a coordinated public relations effort. Fans couldn’t believe their hero, Curry, would be content with more inaction after two middling seasons and the current one free-falling. How could he wave the white flag like this? The moment provided a chance to re-litigate every misstep the Warriors made and misfortune they had over the past five years.

The Warriors didn’t talk about the noise as a team. They’re used to being in the spotlight. When asked about the “mortgage the future” comments on Wednesday night, Andrew Wiggins had no clue what that phrase was referring to.

Curry didn’t use the news cycle as added motivation in the Target Center, he said. It was just another night in the office — one in which he’s still incredible enough to hit a dagger 3 and gaze over at chirping fans before it falls through the net.

It’s not the players’ or coaches’ job to think about roster building on a daily basis. But Curry, like any superstar, is looped in on high-level discussions with the front office. His influence is vast, as it should be.

So when Curry says it would be wrong to fling assets all over the place just for the sake of doing so, that tends to reverberate. And big messages can get lost in translation.

“Anybody who thinks I’m okay with being on an average basketball team is insane,” Curry said.
“Take whatever I said, I still stand on it. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not in a situation where you’re trying to get better and make appropriate moves that help you do that. Mike knows that. We talk about it. That’s the expectation for me, trying to help lead the team where we want to go. Again, that doesn’t mean that you’re reckless.”

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The Warriors, in reality, have been average this year. They’re 20-20 and Curry himself has described them as “mid.”

That must make it hard to maintain that big-picture, patient mindset, no?

“We’re all human,” Curry said. “Your imagination can run wild at times. But first, anybody who’s going to demand something of a franchise or organization — it’s built on trust and communication. And the accountability, again, for me and anybody who puts that jersey on is to play your best. Have I played my best all year? More times than not, but there’s been some lulls. The challenge of how we put all these pieces together has been difficult…But it can’t kill your vibe of having optimism that you can clear it up. It’s a daily challenge. You’ve got to remind yourself to just have fun and play with joy. The rest of it all will kind of work itself out.”

Two things can be true at the same time: it’s perfectly healthy to acknowledge Curry and the Warriors dynasty are in their twilight, and the stewards of the Warriors care about the future of the franchise and have concluded trading their haul of first-round picks and young prospects like Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski could endanger it.

At least that’s all the Warriors have been trying to say.