Franchise Deep Dive: Golden State Warriors

For much of the last decade, the Warriors have been one of the most prominent franchises in professional basketball. They put together one of the greatest seasons of all time, teamed up multiple hall of famers, and revolutionized the game of basketball. But success in San Francisco didn’t start in 2015. As one of the oldest and most storied franchises in the NBA, the Warriors have had their fair share of talent, and reaped the rewards. Welcome to the second installment of the Franchise Deep Dive series, focusing on the Golden State Warriors.

Eras

As always, we’ll divide the history of the franchise into different eras, all representing a different period of Warriors ball, each with new legends and icons that defined the franchise for those years.

• Early Years
• Wilt the Stilt
• The Barry Years
• Drought One
• Run TMC
• Drought Two
• The Dynasty
• Post Dynasty/Current Day

Every one of these eras carried a different identity and level of success, and each combined to create the Warriors of today.

Early Years

In 1946, the Philadelphia Warriors were founded by Eddie Gottlieb and Harry Litwack, joining the BAA as the eleventh team. The moment they joined the league, they would find success, winning the championship in 1947, making them the first champion in BAA history. They were led by Jumpin’ Joe Fulks, who led the BAA in scoring in both ’47 and ’48. When the BAA and NBL combined in 1949 to form the NBA, the Warriors went along after playing just three seasons in the BAA. The Warriors made the playoffs every year in this span, from 1947 to 1952.

They also brought in some great talent during this time span, taking Paul Arizin third in 1950, who was an All Star every year of his ten year career. They picked up Neil Johnston as well, although not through the draft. Johnston had played both baseball and basketball at Ohio State, making the decision to go to major league baseball after college. He struggled, however, so he went to try out for the Warriors. They brought him on, and it would pay off almost instantly. Johnston led the NBA in points per game by his second career year, a level he kept up for the two years after that, making him the scoring leader from ’53 to ’55.

Despite teaming Arizin and Johnston up with Fulks, however, the Warriors saw their success decline for a period. They missed the playoffs from ’53 to ’55, all three years that Johnston led the NBA in scoring. But in 1956, they were back on top of the world. Arizin and Johnston were both All NBA, along with Jack George, who they had taken in the 1953 draft, and who played the most minutes in the NBA in 1956. They had rookie Tom Gola as well, and a new coach in George Senesky, who replaced Gottlieb, who had coached the team since their formation. All of this would combine to bring another championship to Philadelphia, making them the second team to win a championship in both the BAA and NBA, with only the Minneapolis Lakers doing it first. They made the playoffs a couple more times, in ’57 and ’58, but wouldn’t reach the Finals again, at least not with this squad.

Wilt The Stilt

Enter one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen. The stories of Wilt Chamberlain don’t seem human, not by a long shot. Wilt could allegedly bench 500 to 600 pounds, with a 45 inch vertical, and a 4.4 second 40 yard dash. Not all of these numbers are confirmed, but his production on the court certainly backs it up. He entered the league for the 1959-60 season, and was immediately one of the most dominant players in the league. He didn’t just win Rookie of the Year, but also the MVP award, averaging an insane 37.6 points per game and 27 rebounds. Also during his tenure as a Warriors, he would, of course, have his infamous 100 point game, which remains a record to this day, and may never be broken.

For the first few years of Wilt’s career, the Warriors would make the playoffs but miss the Finals, and the Warriors would end up making a big change. Before the 1963 season started, the Warriors would move from Philadelphia to San Francisco, looking for a bigger and more lucrative market, partially so they could pay Wilt and their other stars. Success in the Bay Area wouldn’t come around right away, however, as the Warriors missed the playoffs entirely in 1963.

In 1964, they would get the closest to winning that they ever did with Wilt, making it all the way to the NBA Finals. Wilt led the league in scoring that year, but he was also helped by All Star Guy Rodgers, Tom Meschery, who had been an All Star the year before, and a rookie Nate Thurmond. Unfortunately for them, it was in the middle of the Boston Celtics dynasty that the Warriors attempted to make a run, and nobody won on Boston’s watch, and the Warriors would only grab one game in what ended up being a five game series. The Warriors missed the playoffs again in 1965, and that would bring an end to the Wilt era in San Francisco. Both him and the Warriors pursued a trade, with Wilt wanting to return to Philly and the Warriors needing cash, so he was shipped away for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer, and $150,000 in cash.

Wilt had put up incredible numbers as a Warrior, both in Philly and San Francisco, but the winning never came. Wilt got a reputation by some as a playoff dropper, who put up empty stats, but others argue that the supporting cast was never enough for him to do anything with. Wilt is certainly one of the more divisive players in NBA history, as some fans idolize him while others try to bring him down. For the Warriors, it was an okay period, but never matched the winning from their 50s teams.

The Barry Years

Rick Barry is one of the most talented, most dominant, and strangest players in NBA history. The year after Chamberlain was traded, the Warriors used the fourth overall pick on the forward out of Miami. Barry came onto the scene as a superstar, making the All NBA first team in his rookie year. By his second season he was leading the NBA in scoring, averaging 35.6 points per game. The Warriors did incredibly well as a team that season as well, making it all the way to the NBA Finals, led of course by Barry as well as All Star and defensive great Nate Thurmond, who was in his fourth year in the league, averaging 19 and 21 during the regular season. They would end up losing in the Finals to the Philadelphia 76ers, and, in a full circle moment, Wilt Chamberlain. 

The next year, however, is where the story goes off the rails. Barry was offered a large sum by the Oakland Oaks of the ABA, which he planned to leave the Warriors and accept. The problem, however, lay in the fact that Barry was still on contract with the Warriors. The Warriors brought him a lawsuit, which they won, and Barry had to miss the entire 1968 season. The Warriors, however, had to keep playing, and multiple players stepped up to the challenge. Thurmond had another great year, while Rudy LaRusso, Clyde Lee, and Jim King also all made all star teams, giving San Francisco four total All Stars on the year. This would take them back to the playoffs, although they would lose in the second round.

Barry off in the ABA, this trend would continue for years. The Warriors were still a solid team, consistently making it to the playoffs but falling short of the Finals. Thurmond continued doing his thing as one of the best defensive players in the league until he left the team in 1974, Jeff Mullins played well, and they even brought in Jerry Lucas for two years, although he was slightly past his prime years. Without Barry, however, they couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Barry and the Warriors hadn’t severed ties during these years, however. In 1969, Barry expressed desire to return back to the NBA and the Warriors, but once again, he was denied by legal entanglements. The Washington Capitals argued that Barry was required to play the rest of his years in the ABA, for them specifically, and they sued the Warriors. A judge ruled that Barry was in fact under contract with the ABA, and Barry would play out the rest of his ABA years with the Capitals, the Virginia Squires, and the New York Nets. But when the 1972 season rolled around, Barry was free to rejoin the NBA, and he returned to the Warriors, who had undergone a rebrand that year, becoming the Golden State Warriors. 

It wouldn’t take long for Barry’s impact to be felt once again, as in 1975, the Warriors were on their way to the NBA Finals. Barry was the only All Star on the team, but he would make due, averaging 30 points per game and leading the Warriors past the Bullets in the Finals. He won Finals MVP, making him the first Finals MVP in Warriors history, as the award hadn’t existed at the times of their previous championships. 

Barry stuck around for a few more years, but they wouldn’t reach that level of success again, and after 1978, he would go to Houston, and the Warriors would enter a long period of mediocrity.

Drought One

From 1978 to 1986, the Warriors didn’t sniff the playoffs. There hovered around the 30 win mark for many of these years, just never enough to compete with the great teams of the West. They had some talented players, including Purvis Short, drafted in 1978, who would end up being one of the better scorers never to make an All Star game. They traded for a rookie Sleepy Floyd in the 1983 season as well, a great offensive guard who would end up being an All Star for Golden State. There were short tenures of great players as well, most noticeably a younger Bernard King from ’81 to ’82.

Eventually, they finally utilized some of this talent, and in 1987 they would escape their drought, making the playoffs as a 42 win team, and led by Short, Floyd, and Joe Barry Carroll, the Warriors would beat the Utah Jazz, making it to the second round, where they lost to the Lakers in five.

After 1987, the trajectory of the team would change. Short was shipped off to the Houston Rockets, and with the seventh overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft, the Warriors selected Chris Mullin out of St John’s. Shortly into the season, the Warriors moved Sleepy Floyd and Joe Barry Carroll, both of whom had been pivotal members of the team for years, away to the Rockets, receiving Ralph Sampson and Steve Harris in return. The Warriors were moving in a new direction, away from the old in an effort to embrace the new.

Run TMC

By shipping away two of their best players, the Warriors had doomed themselves for that season. They won just twenty games in Mullin’s rookie year, which gifted them a high draft pick, and with the fifth overall pick, they selected Mitch Richmond. Richmond’s rookie year would pan out very differently than Mullin’s, as the Warriors were a playoff team that year. This was due partially to a great rookie year for Richmond, but also a sophomore leap from Mullin, who made the All NBA Second team averaging 26, 6, and 5. The Warriors were only the seventh seed, but they would shock Malone, Stockton, and the Utah Jazz, sweeping them in the best of five series. Mullin and Richmond were incredible, the former averaging 33, 5, and 5, and the latter averaging 28, 8, and 6. The Warriors lost in the next round to the Suns, meaning the Utah Jazz were the only team they had beat in a series since 1977.

Still, however, this young core showed a lot of promise, and the optimism would only grow with the drafting of Tim Hardaway in the 1989 draft. They missed the playoffs in 1990, but made it once more in 1991, led by Mullin and Hardaway who were both All Stars. They, once again, lost in the second round.

This loss prompted the end of the short lived Run TMC era, as the Warriors would move on from Richmond that offseason, a trade that devastated Richmond, and Don Nelson, the Warriors coach, calls the “one regret” of his career. The Warriors made the playoffs again in 1992 and 1994, but Mullin’s level of play regressed after that, and the team struggled. Hardaway, fed up with the failure of what had been such a promising roster, requested a trade, and the Warriors obliged, shipping him to Miami. All of a sudden, the Warriors had gone from being one of the most exciting and promising young teams in the league to being back at the bottom.

Drought Two

Immediately, the Warriors were plunged into the depths of the NBA. From 1995 to 2006, they missed the playoffs every single year, and they weren’t particularly close either. They had multiple seasons with under 20 wins, and although they had some good players like Antawn Jamison, the talent was too severely lacking for them to do much of anything.

Even once they did enter the playoffs in 2007, they were serious underdogs. They were the eighth seed, having been just one game over .500 that season. They were led by Baron Davis, who they’d traded for from New Orleans in 2005, Stephen Jackson, who they traded for that season, Jason Richardson, who had been with the team since they drafted him in 2002, and a second season Monta Ellis. Their competition: a 67 win Dallas Mavericks team led by MVP of the league Dirk Nowitzki. The odds were stacked against Golden State but they were ready. They stole game one in Dallas, won both of their home games, and then won at home one more time in order to steal the series in six games. This was, at the time, just the third time in NBA history an eight seed beat a one in a playoff series. This Warriors team became known as the “We Believe” Warriors, and although they would end up losing in the second round, they served as a bright spot in an otherwise bleak 13 years.

After 2007, the Warriors were right back to their losing ways. In 2008, despite being seven games over .500, they missed the playoffs. The next year, they won just 29 games, a disappointing season, but one that would grant them the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft, where the next superstar of Golden State would be born. The trajectory of not just the Warriors, but of the entire NBA was about to change forever.

The Dynasty

The Warriors used their 2009 draft pick on a small guard out of Davison, Stephen Curry, son of former NBA player Dell Curry. Steph had a number of doubters, and for his first few years, the Warriors struggled as a team. But by 2013, Steph had kicked it into gear, averaging 23 and leading the league in both three pointers attempted and three pointers made. The NBA had never seen a shooting talent like Steph. Unlimited range, able to shoot off the catch or the bounce, and one of the best off-ball movers ever seen. In 2013, the Warriors were back in the playoffs on the coattails of Steph’s heroics. That team also featured Klay Thompson, who they’d drafted the year before, and a rookie Draymond Green. The squad lost in the second round last year, and the first round the year after, but success was looming.

By 2015, the Warriors had put the league on notice. Steph was, without a doubt, one of the best players in the NBA, winning MVP that season, and Klay and Draymond had both come into their own as well, Klay making an All NBA team and Draymond making All Defensive. Surrounded by great role players like Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Andrew Bogut, the Warriors would steamroll their way through the West, taking out the Pelicans, Grizzlies, and Rockets. In the Finals, they were met by LeBron James, who had reunited with the Cleveland Cavaliers after his stint in Miami. They were formidable, but the Warriors did their thing, and a big improvement from Iguodala helped the Warriors win their first championship since 1975.

The Warriors were far from finished with winning, however. The next season, they made history, winning 73 games, the highest number in NBA history. Steph was unanimous MVP that season, the only time that has ever happened. Draymond and Klay were both All-NBA as well, and the Dubs looked well on their way to the next championship. They cruised to the Conference Finals, where they went down 3-1 against the OKC Thunder, led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. They stormed back, however, and brought themselves back to the Finals to face the Cavs once again. This time they would be the ones to go up 3-1, and they would be the ones to blow it as well. Kyrie Irving and LeBron brought the Cavs back, and in one of the most shocking results in NBA history, the greatest regular season team of all time would fold, losing in game 7.

Golden State wasn’t thrilled with this result. And they planned to do something about it. In the 2016 offseason, they poached Kevin Durant from the Thunder, making them nearly unstoppable, but also, extremely unlikable. Fans from across the league, especially Thunder fans, prayed on the downfall of the Warriors, but their prayers would go unanswered. With Steph, Klay, and Dray now paired up with one of the most lethal scorers in NBA history, the Warriors would make quick work of their opponents. They wouldn’t reach that 73 win mark again, but they would reach the Finals in both 2017 and 2018, where they faced LeBron and the Cavs once more. Each of these times would be far different from 2016, as the Warriors were successful in each meeting, giving them three championships in just four seasons. The addition of Durant, who won Finals MVP in both years, had made the Warriors unguardable, one of the greatest offenses the league has ever witnessed.

In 2019, disaster struck. The Warriors had found themselves in the Finals once again, this time against the Toronto Raptors, but the path had not been so easy. Durant had been injured earlier in the playoffs, in the second round against the Rockets. He would return in the Finals, just for the world to come crashing down on him. His Achilles tore, and he was out of the series. The next game, Klay Thompson would tear his ACL, and all of a sudden the Warriors saw their dynasty crumbling down. The Raptors would go on to win the series, and the Warriors were dismantled.

KD left that offseason, going to team up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn. Klay continued dealing with injuries, tearing his Achilles in 2020, causing him to miss yet another year. Draymond and Steph couldn’t carry the team by themselves, and the Warriors fell far from the top of the league.

Post Dynasty/Current Day

In 2020, with Klay still out, Steph missed a significant amount of time, and the Warriors were one of the worst teams in the NBA. They had brought in some new talent, including Andrew Wiggins and draft pick Jordan Poole, but they looked far from the level of their 2010s dominance.

This talent would start to click, however, in the 2022 season, and all of a sudden the Warriors were back to their old selves. Steph still put up incredible numbers, including breaking the NBA all time total three pointer record, Draymond was an All Star, as was Wiggins, and Thompson came back from injury. They went into the playoffs as a three seed, and they would go on to beat the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Mavericks, reaching the Finals again. They were playing the Boston Celtics, and their superior experience would prove to be enough, beating them in six games. Steph averaged over 30 in the series, and he finally won his Finals MVP, along with his fourth ring.

The Warriors made the playoffs again in 2023, but they lost in the second round to LeBron and the Lakers. In 2024 they would miss the playoffs entirely, losing in the play-in tournament. This would lead to them parting ways with Klay Thompson, leaving behind a member of the big three that had won three championships together.

Last season, in 2025, the Warriors made the playoffs again, with help from their newly acquired talent in Jimmy Butler, who they traded Wiggins for. They upset the Rockets in the first round, but Steph got injured in round two and the Timberwolves eliminated them.

Now, the Warriors are in an interesting place. Curry, Draymond, and Butler are all getting older, and in a highly contentious Western Conference, they may not be able to compete as much as they have in the past. Who knows whether they’re headed for yet another surprise championship, a dynasty, or maybe a third drought. There is one thing that is certain, however. It may take them a while, maybe even fifteen years, but the Warriors will always find their way back to the pinnacle of success.

All-Time Starting Five

Point Guard – Steph Curry

No surprises here. The greatest shooter of all time, plus an elite scorer, playmaker, and leader, Steph is the face of the most successful period in Warriors history. A four time champion, 11 time All Star and All NBA member, and a two time MVP, Curry is one of the greatest point guards, players, and Warriors in history.

Shooting Guard – Chris Mullin

This spot could certainly go to Klay Thompson, but I wanted to recognize the great years that Mullin had in Golden State. The Run TMC era may have been short, but Mullin was a big part of it, an elite shooter and well rounded player who could light it up at any time.

Small Forward – Kevin Durant

He may not be the longest tenured Warrior, but he has a strong case for the most talented. One of the most lethal scorers ever to step foot on a basketball court, the Slim Reaper was a vital piece of two championship teams, and was an All-NBA member for all three years of his time as a Warrior.

Power Forward – Rick Barry

He may have been a character, but the talent was undeniable. One of the greatest scorers of all time, he makes this lineup’s offensive upside higher than it already was. A six time All-NBA member with the Dubs, Barry consistently provided problems for the defense, even more than he provided for team management.

Center – Wilt Chamberlain

Shoutout to Nate Thurmond, but this isn’t even a debate. Possibly the greatest athlete ever to hold a basketball, The Big Dipper could dominate each end of the court, putting up the most insane scoring numbers of all time while also crashing the boards and swatting shots that would be out of reach for anyone else. He wouldn’t have to put up as insane numbers on the offensive end with this lineup, but his production on defense and the glass would be greatly appreciated.

Overall Franchise Grade: A-

Despite long stretches of mediocrity, the Warriors at their best have enjoyed some of the most dominant stretches a team has ever put up. Winning championships in the 40s, 60s, 70s, 10s, and 20s certainly isn’t common, and it’s a testament to not just how much talent this franchise has had, but also how well they’ve capitalized. I can’t quite give them the highest grade possible, as they did suffer some long droughts, but the Warriors have earned their place as one of the top teams in the Association.