Stephen Curry is a generation player. The Wizards still do not have one.

OAKLAND, Calif. – John Wall and Bradley Beal are both excellent basketball players. They partnered to form one of the elite backcourts of the NBA, raising the Washington Wizards to their best level in decades.

Yet despite this success, Washington felt like a team less than the sum of its parts. And despite the fact that they seem so often on the verge of becoming something more, the Wizards meet each year with the same result: an early exit for the playoffs.

Why? When in doubt, the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry responded to this question emphatically Wednesday night.

With 51 points in 31 minutes, while he shot 11 for 16 from three points, Curry presented the kind of show that only he can offer, as a transcendent player who only shows up in the game. once per generation. It's something that wizards do not have.

"We never see that from some of the blows he's made," Welsh coach Scott Brooks said Wednesday, shaking his head in front of Curry's masterly performance.

"He's a special player, a special scorer, a special shooter."

[Stephen Curry’s three-point barrage, 51 points propel reigning champs past Wizards]

There is nothing wrong with not being Stephen Curry. After all, only one person can be the biggest shooter of all time. And while some DMV members questioned Wall and Beal as both excellent players, they are: both are among the top 30 players in the league and both are guardians of caliber. stars that the vast majority of teams in the NBA are delighted to have.

But to be a awesome The NBA team, which is still competing for the championships, it's just not good to have good players. It takes a transcendent talent, like Curry or LeBron James, to build a team in this rarefied air. Just look at what happened to the wizards against the warriors; Curry not only scored 51 points, but Kevin Durant scored the 30 easiest points ever.

"We just have to accept the challenge more," said Beal. "It was not fair [Curry], it was everyone. [Durant] was 30 years old, Klay [Thompson] got his 20 … . The top three guys had 100 points by themselves. "

With these three players, plus Draymond Green, the Warriors have a preponderance of high-end talent that no other team can match, which is why Durant's decision to join them is so despised. It's also a reminder of why the movement of elite players around the league gets so much attention; in no other sport, a player can have such an inordinate impact on the match.

For teams such as the Wizards, the absence of true elite talent means that to achieve collective greatness, virtually every movement of personnel must be successful. They can not afford to exchange James Harden and say no. Al Horford, the third wheel alongside Wall and Beal, can not go after the Celtics, but only for Horford to finally choose Boston over Washington.

Ironically, Boston's upscale players are not very different from those of the Wizards. But the Celtics have not only more, thanks to the trading of Kyrie Irving and the signing of Horford and Gordon Hayward as free agents; they also have a treasure of assets in reserve. This in turn gives them the opportunity to collect some sort of rare depth to compensate – or put together a big enough exchange pack to land an elite player.

For a team like the Wizards, there is really no possibility of recovering from such missed opportunities – even if the other elements work pretty well. And, to Washington's credit, many other things have worked quite well.

[Stephen Curry crafted a sublime masterpiece, and the Wizards were helpless to stop it]

Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tomas Satoransky are recent candidates who have emerged in useful in-depth work. Marcin Gortat's exchange against Austin Rivers was a judicious allocation of resources, especially if Dwight Howard can get back in good health from his back / gluteal problem that prevented him from entering the field. Signing Jeff Green for the minimum instead of paying a premium to Mike Scott after a very hot shooting season a year ago was also wise. And Ted Leonsis deserves credit for doing what many around the league thought he would not do: repeatedly enter the luxury tax to put a strong product on the floor.

The question, however, is obvious: what will Leonsis get for its money? The answer is probably not what he hopes. The Wizards seem to be a clear step behind the Toronto Celtics and Raptors. The Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks also have a superior talent that should place them above Washington. At best, the Wizards are already starting outsiders on the road in the first round of the playoffs.

Given that Leonsis' stated goals include 50 wins and participation in the Eastern Conference finals, it's hard to see this season end happily for him or his team.

Instead, the Wizards will stay what they have been: good enough to make the playoffs, but not enough to make it the true summit of the East, not to mention the NBA. In many ways, they are the answer of the Eastern Conference to the Portland Trail Blazers, the team they beat Monday night.

As in Portland, the Wizards have a pair of great guards. As in Portland, these guards are not good enough to form an elite team by themselves. And, like Portland, this situation has given rise to various debates about moving from one or both stars to a new start.

The Warriors, on the other hand, would never think of leaving Curry. This is the difference between a franchise built on a transcendent actor and not on one or two big ones.

"You look at a generation player," Brooks said about Curry on Wednesday night. "There are not a lot of these guys coming up in the ranks."

The Wizards are always looking for one.

Does a thoughtful and thoughtful analysis of the NBA Washington Post and the Web interest you every Monday morning in your inbox? If that's the case, sign up for the Monday Morning Post Up, the Washington Post's NBA news bulletin..

Learn more about the coverage of the Post by the NBA:

Good storeroom, Oracle Arena. Warriors' house was mean to wizards.

A year later, Markieff Morris, a wizard, is healthy, well-rested – and exhausted

The Phoenix Suns are a young team. They want to be a good team.