Though it didn’t quite live up to the impossible expectations set by the 73-win regular season in 2015-16, the 2016-17 Warriors were once again an NBA juggernaut for the third year running. Collectively, Golden State once again earned the league’s best record, and won 67 games for the third consecutive season, a feat that has never been achieved before in NBA history.
Individually, the also set a number of milestones during the season — 16 to be exact — the team announced after Wednesday’s regular season finale.
Career-highs achieved by Warriors players in the 2016-17 season: pic.twitter.com/47Of0nzlgW
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) April 13, 2017
Nine different players achieved career highs in at least one category. Perhaps the most impressive, and unexpected, of which was Klay Thompson’s 22.3 points per game. With the addition of Kevin Durant, many expected Thompson to be the Warrior to see the ball less in 2016-17. Thompson made it clear that was not his plan, famously saying he “wasn’t sacrificing s**t.” He was right. Thompson’s usage rate was nearly the same as last season’s, and he also scored a career-high 60 points in three quarters during a game in December.
Durant himself had the most efficient season of his career, and benefited greatly from playing alongside three All-Stars in a system based on ball movement over isolations. Durant consistently had open looks and posted his best single-season shooting percentage, and the second best shooting percentage in the league amongst non PF/C, sitting just behind LeBron James.
Field goal percentages were up across the board for the Warriors, with six different players posting career highs, including veterans Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee. As a team, the Warriors led the NBA in field goal percentage for the third consecutive season, and improved upon last year’s mark by .008 percent.
Not only did Durant have the most efficient season of his career on the offensive end, he also showed a defensive consistency throughout the 2016-17 season that many always believed he was capable of, but never quite lived up to in Oklahoma City. Durant set a career high in both blocks and rebounds per game, and finished ninth in the NBA in blocks per game, and along with Draymond Green helped replace the impact of the departed Andrew Bogut.
Ian Clark and James Michael McAdoo each received the most consistent playing time of their young careers, and combined to set seven career highs.
