TheGolden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based inSan Francisco. The franchise has also been based inPhiladelphia,Oakland, andSan Jose (during a renovation of its home arena). The team is a member of thePacific Division of theWestern Conference in theNational Basketball Association (NBA). The Warriors joined theBasketball Association of America (BAA) as the Philadelphia Warriors in 1946 and won the first BAA championship title in the same year, under coachEdward Gottlieb. They joined the NBA following the BAA-NBL merger in1949. The Warriors' record was 26–42 in their first NBA season, and they lost in the first round of the playoffs to theSyracuse Nationals.[1][2]Franklin Mieuli and theDiners Club put together a group of 40 local investors to move the Warriors toSan Francisco before the1962–63 NBA season, with Mieuli eventually buying all the shares of the franchise to keep the team from collapsing and to keep it in the area. After playing several home games in Oakland from 1967 onward, the team moved to Oakland full-time for the1971–72 NBA season and changed its name to the Golden State Warriors.[3][4][5]
Led byRick Barry, the Warriors were a formidable franchise during the middle 1970s, achieving winning records every season from 1971–72 to 1977–78, winning two division titles, and defeating theWashington Bullets in the 1975 NBA championship. However, after Barry departed at the end of the 1977–78 season, the Warriors failed to compete for a title for the next 35 seasons. Between 1978–79 and 2011–12, the Warriors only achieved winning records in eight seasons. The team also suffered the NBA's fourth-longest postseason appearance drought in history, with no playoff appearances between 1994–95 and 2005–06; this mark trails onlythe Braves/Clippers between 1976–77 and 1990–91,the Timberwolves between 2004–05 and 2016–17, andthe Kings from 2006–07 to 2021–22.
The Warriors were one of the NBA's premier teams in the 2010s. Led by two-time NBA Most Valuable PlayerStephen Curry, the Warriors appeared in the NBA finals five consecutive times from 2014-15 to 2018-19, winning three championships. In the2015 NBA Finals, the Warriors defeatedLeBron James and theCleveland Cavaliers in six games. This would be the first of four consecutive finals appearances against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The following season, the Warriors—boosted by over half a decade of skillful drafting—finished with the best record in NBA history. The team ended the 2015–16 season with a mark of 73–9, one win better thanMichael Jordan’s1995–96 Bulls. The Warriors reached the Finals again that year but were defeated by James's Cavaliers in seven games. After addingKevin Durant in the off-season, they won 67 games during the 2016–17 campaign. The Warriors set another NBA record by winning 207 games during the three-year period ending in 2017. In the2017 NBA Finals, the Warriors faced the Cavaliers again and won the NBA title in five games. The following year, the Warriors faced the Cavaliers in the finals for the fourth consecutive season. The Warriors swept the series, winning the final game 108–85. In 2019, the Warriors returned to theNBA Finals, for the fifth consecutive season, becoming only the second team in NBA history to reach the NBA Finals in five consecutive seasons. This time, the Warriors faced off against theToronto Raptors, and the Warriors lost to them in six games.
Upon injuries to backcourt duo Stephen Curry andKlay Thompson as well as Durant's sign-and-trade departure to theBrooklyn Nets, the Warriors struggled for the next two years, failing to qualify for the playoffs in either season. The team would return to familiar success after defeating theBoston Celtics in 6 games in the2022 NBA Finals. Curry would winNBA Finals MVP, winning his fourth championship and popularly cementing his role as theface of the franchise's dynastic era. The following 2022 season would see difficulties in balancing veteran leadership and youthful development, producing criticisms from analysts and opponents in the Warriors' ability to continue their dominance.
AHC | NBA All-Star Game Head Coach |
ASG MVP | All-Star Game Most Valuable Player |
COY | Coach of the Year |
DPOY | Defensive Player of the Year |
Finish | Final position in division standings |
GB | Games behind first-place team in division[b] |
Losses | Number of regular season losses |
EOY | Executive of the Year |
FMVP | Finals Most Valuable Player |
MVP | Most Valuable Player |
ROY | Rookie of the Year |
SIX | Sixth Man of the Year |
SPOR | Sportsmanship Award |
JWKC | Citizenship Award |
Wins | Number of regular season wins |
Note: Statistics are correct as of the2024–25 NBA season.
| NBA champions | Conference champions | Division champions | Playoff berth | Play-in berth |
| Statistic | Wins | Losses | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Warriors regular season record (1947–1962) | 558 | 545 | .506 |
| San Francisco Warriors regular season record (1963–1971) | 330 | 399 | .453 |
| Golden State Warriors regular season record (1972–present) | 2,129 | 2,224 | .489 |
| All-time regular season record (1947–present) | 3,017 | 3,168 | .488 |
| Philadelphia Warriors post-season record (1947–1962) | 36 | 41 | .468 |
| San Francisco Warriors post-season record (1963–1971) | 21 | 27 | .438 |
| Golden State Warriors post-season record (1972–present) | 161 | 111 | .592 |
| All-time post-season record (1947–present) | 217 | 179 | .548 |
| All-time regular and post-season record (1947–present) | 3,234 | 3,347 | .491 |