Golden State Warriors

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 2nd of March 1962, the Philadelphia Warriors staged a home game in Hershey, Pennsylvania, against the New York Knicks. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points that night, a record the NBA still ranks among its finest moments. Less than a year later, that franchise had moved across the country. The Golden State Warriors, as the team eventually became known, went on to win seven NBA championships. They rank third in total Finals appearances in NBA history, trailing only the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. How did a club founded in Philadelphia in 1946 become one of the most decorated in professional basketball? The answer runs through Hall of Fame players and a roster decision so damaging it set the franchise back a decade. It also runs through twelve consecutive years without a playoff appearance and a dynasty that broke records once thought permanent.

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• 2. Philadelphia Roots

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  Peter A. Tyrrell founded the Philadelphia Warriors in 1946 as a charter member of the Basketball Association of America. He also owned the Philadelphia Rockets of the American Hockey League. He hired Eddie Gottlieb, a longtime local basketball promoter, as head coach and general manager. The team name honored an older Philadelphia basketball club that had competed in the American Basketball League in 1925. Joe Fulks led the squad to the league's inaugural championship in the 1946-47 season, defeating the Chicago Stags four games to one. The NBA, which took shape through a 1949 merger, officially recognizes that title as its own first championship. Gottlieb bought the franchise in 1951. The Warriors claimed a second championship in the 1955-56 season, defeating the Fort Wayne Pistons four games to one. Three future Hall of Famers carried that team: forward Paul Arizin, guard Tom Gola, and center Neil Johnston. The franchise drafted Wilt Chamberlain in 1959, bringing a level of physical dominance the league had never encountered.

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• 3. The Chamberlain Trade

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  Franklin Mieuli acquired a controlling stake in the franchise in 1962 and scheduled most early Bay Area home games at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Daly City sits just south of San Francisco. The Warriors also played at venues in Oakland, San Jose, and the University of San Francisco's War Memorial Gymnasium. Chamberlain led the team in scoring six times during his years with the franchise. For the 1963-64 season, the team added big man Nate Thurmond as a complement to Chamberlain. The Warriors won the Western Division crown that year but lost the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics four games to one. In January 1965, the franchise traded Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers, receiving Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann, and $150,000 in return. The team won only 17 games that season, the worst record in the NBA. Four months after the trade, the Warriors used their first-round draft pick on a forward named Rick Barry.

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• 4. Barry and the 1975 Sweep

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  Rick Barry won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award and led the Warriors to the 1966-67 Finals. Their opponent was the Philadelphia 76ers, now starring Chamberlain, the team that had filled the city's basketball void after the Warriors left. Golden State lost the series four games to two. Barry then departed. He believed management had not honored certain incentive bonuses he was owed. He signed with the Oakland Oaks of the rival American Basketball Association. After four ABA seasons, he rejoined the Warriors in 1972. By then, the franchise had taken the name Golden State Warriors, a choice meant to suggest the team represented the entire state of California. Oakland Arena had become its exclusive home court. In the 1974-75 season, the Warriors met the Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals. Al Attles coached the team, and Barry led the attack alongside forward Jamaal Wilkes. Washington was heavily favored. Golden State swept the Bullets in four games, a result many observers still consider one of the biggest upsets in NBA Finals history. Barry was named Finals MVP. The following regular season produced a 59-23 record, the best in the NBA. The Warriors were then upset in seven Western Conference Finals games by a Phoenix Suns team that had finished just 42-40.

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• 5. Rock Bottom

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  The exits of Barry, Wilkes, and Thurmond through trades and retirements from 1978 onward stripped the franchise of its competitive core. One move in particular came to define the mismanagement of this era. In 1976, the Warriors drafted center Robert Parish, then sent him to the Boston Celtics in 1980. That deal also included the pick that became All-Star forward Kevin McHale. All they received was the pick used to select center Joe Barry Carroll. New co-owners Jim Fitzgerald and Dan Finnane hired George Karl as head coach in 1986, beginning a brief revival. Karl's Warriors reached the 1987 Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers. In one playoff game against Los Angeles, point guard Sleepy Floyd scored 51 points, including six consecutive field goals in the fourth quarter. Floyd's 29 points in that quarter and 39 points in that half remain NBA playoff records. Don Nelson succeeded Karl and assembled a high-scoring trio: point guard Tim Hardaway, guard Mitch Richmond, and forward Chris Mullin. The group became known as Run TMC, a reference to the rap group Run-D.M.C. Two seasons was all they had together before Nelson traded Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for forward Billy Owens. New owner Chris Cohan took over for the 1994-95 season, and the franchise made several more coaching changes through the decade. In December 1997, guard Latrell Sprewell choked head coach P.J. Carlesimo during a team practice. One newspaper ran the headline WARRIORS HIT ROCK BOTTOM. Sprewell was traded to the New York Knicks in January 1999. Point guard Baron Davis arrived in a 2005 trade deadline deal. Entering the 2006-07 season, the Warriors held the NBA record for consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, at 12 straight years.

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• 6. We Believe

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  On the 4th of March 2007, a loss to the Washington Wizards dropped the Warriors' record to 26-35. That defeat proved to be the turning point of the season. From that night, the team went 16-5 in its final 21 regular-season games, with We Believe as its rallying slogan. Golden State finished 42-40 and entered the playoffs as the eighth and final Western Conference seed. The top seed, the Dallas Mavericks, were heavily favored. The Warriors won Game 1 in Dallas. Dallas tied the series with a Game 2 victory, but Golden State claimed Games 3 and 4 at Oracle Arena. Dallas then won Game 5. In Game 6, the Warriors staged an 18-0 run in the third quarter to eliminate the Mavericks. No eighth seed had ever beaten a first seed in a seven-game playoff series before. The last time any eighth seed had toppled a first seed was in 1999, when the New York Knicks eliminated the Miami Heat. The second round brought the Utah Jazz. Davis scored 32 points in Game 3, including a dunk on Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko that electrified the home crowd. The Warriors lost the series in five games. Davis signed with the Los Angeles Clippers that off-season, and the team finished 29-53 the following year. In the 2009 NBA draft, the Warriors selected point guard Stephen Curry of Davidson College with the seventh overall pick.

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• 7. The Curry Dynasty

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  On the 4th of May 2015, Curry was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player. He was the first Golden State player to receive the award since Wilt Chamberlain in 1960. The team had finished the regular season at 67-15, a franchise record. They swept the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round and beat the Memphis Grizzlies in six games. After dispatching the Houston Rockets in five games, Golden State reached the Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first time since 1975. Trailing two games to one, coach Steve Kerr gave Andre Iguodala his first start of the season in Game 4. Iguodala replaced center Andrew Bogut in a small-ball configuration that became known as the Death Lineup. The Warriors won the next three games. Iguodala was named Finals MVP. Kerr became the first rookie coach to win an NBA championship since Pat Riley in the 1981-82 season. The 2015-16 regular season opened with 24 consecutive wins, the best start in NBA history. The previous record of 15-0 had been shared by the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets. Golden State finished 73-9, breaking the single-season record of 72 wins held by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. Curry set a new NBA record with 402 three-pointers made that season. He became the first player in league history to win the MVP award unanimously, claiming all 131 first-place votes. On the 27th of February 2016, Curry tied the single-game NBA record of 12 three-pointers, a mark shared with Donyell Marshall and Kobe Bryant. Despite holding a three games to one lead, the Warriors lost the 2016 Finals to Cleveland in seven games. Draymond Green was suspended for Game 5, and Curry was ejected from Game 6. On the 4th of July 2016, Kevin Durant announced he was leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign with Golden State. He made it official three days later. The Warriors won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018. Their 2017 playoff run produced a 16-1 record, the best winning percentage in NBA postseason history. The 2018 Finals were the fourth consecutive Finals matchup between the same two franchises, unprecedented in NBA history. Golden State swept Cleveland for the second straight championship. In the 2019 Finals against the Toronto Raptors, Durant tore his Achilles and Thompson tore his ACL. Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets that off-season. Golden State missed the playoffs the next two seasons. Curry won the scoring title in the 2020-21 season with an average of 32.0 points per game. In 2021-22, the Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics four games to two, claiming their seventh championship. Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala each won a fourth title as Warriors. The following year, Golden State overcame a 0-2 deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings in seven first-round games. They then fell to the Los Angeles Lakers, the seventh seed, in six conference semifinal games. It was the first time since 2014 that the Warriors had exited the playoffs without reaching the Finals, and the first playoff series loss against a Western Conference opponent under Steve Kerr.

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