106 Fun Facts About Golden State Warriors

In which city were the Warriors founded in 1946?

Philadelphia was home until the 1962 move west; the owners borrowed the Warriors name from an earlier pro team that had played in the city in the 1920s.

What is the name of the San Francisco arena the Warriors have played in since 2019?

Chase Center opened in the Mission Bay district in September 2019 after an earlier plan for Piers 30 and 32 on the waterfront met with vocal opposition.

The 1971 name Golden State covered a plan to split home games between the Bay Area and which city?

San Diego had just lost the Rockets to Houston, so the Warriors' owner planned to share his team with the city and picked a name that covered all of California; only a handful of games were ever played there.

Which top overall pick did the Warriors acquire on draft night in 1993 for Penny Hardaway and three future first-rounders?

Chris Webber won Rookie of the Year with the Warriors, then fell out with coach Don Nelson and was traded after a single season.

Which future Hall of Famer did the Warriors draft fifth in 1998, then swap on draft night for Antawn Jamison?

Vince Carter went to Toronto for Antawn Jamison, his North Carolina teammate taken one pick earlier; Carter won Rookie of the Year and later reached the Hall of Fame.

In which Pennsylvania town did Wilt Chamberlain score 100 points for the Warriors on March 2, 1962?

Hershey hosted a few Warriors 'home' games to win new fans; that night a career 51% free-throw shooter made 28 of 32 in a 169–147 rout of the New York Knicks.

Which team received Wilt Chamberlain when the Warriors traded him in January 1965?

Philadelphia 76ers sent three players and $150,000 for Chamberlain in January 1965; the Warriors slumped to 17–63, and Wilt's 76ers beat them in the 1967 Finals.

Which radio and TV producer joined the group that bought the Warriors in 1962, then owned the team until 1986?

Franklin Mieuli was one of 33 investors who paid Eddie Gottlieb $850,000 and took the team west; he soon bought out enough partners to control the club, and kept it until 1986.

Which 1965 draft pick won Rookie of the Year and later Finals MVP with the Warriors, with an ABA stint between?

Rick Barry won Rookie of the Year in 1966, jumped to the ABA and sat out 1967–68 under a court order honouring his option year, then returned in 1972 and was Finals MVP in 1975.

Which heavily favoured team did the Warriors sweep in the 1975 NBA Finals?

Washington Bullets won 60 games to the Warriors' 48, yet never won a game in the series; a booking clash even pushed the Warriors' home games out of their own arena to the Cow Palace.

Who coached the Warriors to the 1975 championship and won 557 games with the franchise?

Al Attles never saw his team clinch that title: he was ejected from the deciding game for charging onto the court at an opponent who had fouled his star player hard.

Which Hall of Fame centre did the Warriors trade to Boston in 1980, along with the draft pick that became Kevin McHale?

Robert Parish and that pick went east for two first-round choices, one used first overall on Joe Barry Carroll; Boston won three titles in the 1980s with Parish and McHale up front.

Which Warrior set playoff records with 29 points in a quarter against the Lakers in 1987?

Sleepy Floyd scored 29 of his 51 points in the fourth quarter of Game 4, handing the eventual champions their only loss of the series and sparing the Warriors a sweep.

The 'Run TMC' trio of the early 1990s consisted of Tim Hardaway, Chris Mullin and which guard?

Mitch Richmond was the M: the trio, nicknamed after Run-D.M.C., lasted two seasons before Don Nelson traded Richmond to Sacramento for rookie Billy Owens in November 1991.

Which future MVP went fifth in the 1995 draft, four picks after the Warriors took Joe Smith first overall?

Kevin Garnett fell to Minnesota as the first player in two decades drafted straight from high school; Joe Smith was traded away in his third Warriors season.

Which coach did Latrell Sprewell choke at a practice in December 1997, earning a season-long suspension?

P. J. Carlesimo was grabbed by the throat by Sprewell at practice on 1 December 1997; the NBA suspended Sprewell for the rest of the season, and the Warriors traded him to the Knicks in 1999.

Which future MVP went 13th in the 1996 draft, two picks after the Warriors chose centre Todd Fuller?

Kobe Bryant was taken 13th by Charlotte and dealt to the Lakers; the Warriors' choice at 11, Todd Fuller, averaged 3.7 points across five NBA seasons.

What became the Warriors' slogan during their late-season surge to the 2007 playoffs?

We Believe took hold as Don Nelson's team went 16–5 down the stretch, climbing from 26–35 to 42–40 and ending a run of 12 seasons without a playoff game.

Which top seed did the eighth-seed Warriors upset in 2007, a first in a seven-game series?

Dallas Mavericks won 67 games behind MVP Dirk Nowitzki, then lost in six to a Warriors team coached by Don Nelson, who had run the Mavericks until 2005.

Which 50-win team took the West's last 2008 playoff spot ahead of the Warriors?

Denver Nuggets edged them by two games in a West where all eight playoff teams won at least 50; in the East that year, Atlanta got in with 37 wins.

Monta Ellis was suspended for 30 games in 2008 after injuring himself doing what?

Riding a moped in Mississippi in August 2008, Ellis tore ankle ligaments; because his new six-year contract barred such activities, the team suspended him for 30 games without pay.

Which team passed on Stephen Curry twice in the 2009 draft?

Minnesota Timberwolves held picks 5 and 6 and spent both on point guards, Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn; Flynn lasted only three NBA seasons, while Curry went 7th to the Warriors.

Which tech billionaire lost out when Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the Warriors for a then-record $450 million in 2010?

Larry Ellison said afterwards that he had been the highest bidder; the banker who ran the sale replied that his offer arrived well after the deadline.

Which Harvard guard signed with the Warriors in 2010?

Jeremy Lin, undrafted out of Harvard, signed with his hometown team in July 2010 but was waived after one season; two months later 'Linsanity' erupted with the Knicks.

Which All-Star centre, recovering from a torn Achilles, joined the champion Warriors on a one-year, $5.3 million deal in 2018?

DeMarcus Cousins said he received no offers when free agency opened, so he phoned the Warriors' general manager himself and took the mid-level exception.

Klay Thompson played three college seasons at which Pac-10 school?

Washington State's leading scorer played the same position as Monta Ellis, the Warriors' top scorer, and the team traded Ellis nine months after the draft.

Injuries to which joint limited Stephen Curry to 26 games in 2011–12, months before his four-year, $44 million extension?

Ankle and foot injuries cost Curry 40 of that lockout season's 66 games; he went on to win both his MVP awards while still on that contract.

The 'Splash Brothers' nickname plays on the Bash Brothers of which baseball team?

Oakland Athletics sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were the Bash Brothers; a Warriors website writer adapted the name in a half-time tweet in December 2012, and it stuck.

Whom did the Warriors hire in May 2014 to replace Mark Jackson?

Steve Kerr, a five-time champion as a player with Chicago and San Antonio, took the job in May 2014 after turning down the Knicks, and won the title in his first season.

Stephen Curry's 2015 MVP made him the first Warrior to win the award since whom?

Wilt Chamberlain in 1960 won it as a rookie, then shocked fans by saying he might retire over the rough treatment he took from defenders; no Warrior won it again for 55 years.

Who won Finals MVP in 2015 after being inserted into the starting lineup for Game 4?

Andre Iguodala replaced Andrew Bogut in the starting lineup for Game 4, sparking the small-ball 'Death Lineup', and his defence on LeBron James earned him Finals MVP despite not starting a regular-season game.

Which Hall of Famer joined the Warriors' executive board in 2011?

Jerry West, the silhouette on the NBA logo, advised new owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber for six seasons, won two more titles, then left for the Clippers in 2017.

Which interim coach guided the Warriors to a record 24–0 start in 2015–16?

Luke Walton went 39–4 in charge, yet league rules credited every win to the absent head coach, so Walton was officially winless when he was named Coach of the Month.

The 2015–16 Warriors finished 73–9, breaking by one win the regular-season record held by which team?

Chicago Bulls of 1995–96 went 72–10 and won the title; the 73-win Warriors could not match that, losing the Finals after leading three games to one.

Which Warriors guard won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in both 2002 and 2003?

Jason Richardson joined Michael Jordan as a back-to-back winner, reached the 2004 final one win from the first three-peat, lost to Fred Jones and never entered again.

Klay Thompson became the first to score 60 points in under 30 minutes in a 2016 game against which team?

Indiana Pacers were the victims on 5 December 2016: Thompson scored 60 in 29 minutes of a 142–106 rout while holding the ball for barely a minute and a half all night.

Draymond Green's 2017 triple-double was the NBA's first without double figures in which category?

Scoring was the missing column: Green took only six shots and scored 4 points at Memphis, reaching ten in steals instead, beside 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Which team handed the 2017 Warriors their only playoff loss?

Cleveland Cavaliers made a Finals-record 24 three-pointers in Game 4 to stop a 15–0 start; the Warriors won the title in the next game to finish 16–1.

Whose late three-pointer decided Game 7 of the 2016 Finals against the Warriors?

Kyrie Irving hit a three over Stephen Curry with 53 seconds left and the score stuck at 89–89, and the Warriors did not score again.

Which team beat the Warriors in the 2019 Finals, where Durant tore his Achilles and Thompson his ACL?

Toronto Raptors won in six games for Canada's first NBA title, with Kawhi Leonard as Finals MVP; Durant then left for Brooklyn in a sign-and-trade that brought D'Angelo Russell.

Whom did the Warriors receive from Minnesota in the 2020 trade of D'Angelo Russell?

Andrew Wiggins, the first pick of the 2014 draft, arrived in February 2020 with a 2021 first-round pick; two years later he was an All-Star starter and an NBA champion.

Whom did the Warriors select second overall in the 2020 draft?

James Wiseman, a centre who played only three college games at Memphis, went second behind Anthony Edwards; the Warriors traded him to Detroit in February 2023.

Which team did the Warriors beat in the 2022 NBA Finals?

Boston Celtics led 2–1 before Curry scored 43 in Game 4 and the Warriors won three straight, two seasons after finishing with the NBA's worst record.

Which Sacramento player did Draymond Green stomp on in the 2023 playoffs, earning a one-game suspension?

Domantas Sabonis had grabbed Green's leg from the floor in Game 2; with Green suspended and the Warriors down 2–0, they won Game 3 anyway and took the series in seven.

The 1966–71 'The City' uniform features a cable car and a silhouette of which landmark?

Golden Gate Bridge sat inside a circle with the player's number set over it; the 2010 logo that revived the look swapped in the Bay Bridge's still-unfinished eastern span.

The Warriors' 1997–2010 navy, gold and orange identity was built around which motif?

A lightning bolt was held by the superhero in the 1997 logo and gave the team a mascot, Thunder, who was dropped in 2008 when an NBA rival took the same name and was never replaced.

The Warriors' 'The Town' uniforms honour which city?

Oakland's oak tree emblem sits on 'The Town' jerseys, introduced in 2017 to honour the city where the Warriors played 47 seasons before moving to San Francisco in 2019.

The nickname 'Dubs' is a shortening of what?

W's is the root: 'dub' is slang for the letter W, so Warriors fans' Dub Nation simply means W-Nation.

Where did the Warriors play their 1996–97 home games while their East Bay home was being renovated?

San Jose Arena, the Sharks' NHL rink, housed a lost year: the Warriors finished last in their division at 30–52, ranked 23rd of 29 in attendance and traded Chris Mullin that summer.

Which cryptocurrency platform signed a sponsorship deal with the Warriors in December 2021?

FTX, whose name was already on the Miami Heat's arena and on baseball umpires' shirts, signed with the Warriors in December 2021; eleven months later it filed for bankruptcy.

With their 2022 title the Warriors reached seven championships, behind which two franchises?

Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics were level on 17 titles in 2022, when the Warriors' seventh broke their tie with the Chicago Bulls for third place.

Which Warriors player was named Finals MVP in both 2017 and 2018?

Kevin Durant decided Game 3 of both Finals the same way, with a long three-pointer in the last minute on the road; the second capped a 43-point night.

Which veteran point guard joined the Warriors in July 2023 in a trade for Jordan Poole?

Chris Paul had started every game of his 18-season career; in his one Warriors season he came off the bench for the first time, starting only 18 of 58 games.

Which Miami Heat star did the Warriors acquire at the February 2025 trade deadline?

Jimmy Butler had been suspended three times in January by Miami after asking for a trade; the five-team deal that freed him went through on deadline day, 6 February 2025.

Which team did Kevin Durant leave when he announced his move to the Warriors on July 4, 2016?

Oklahoma City Thunder had just blown a 3–1 lead to the Warriors in the 2016 West finals; Durant announced the move in a Players' Tribune essay and signed three days later.

Which forward did the Warriors select seventh overall from the G League Ignite in the 2021 draft?

Jonathan Kuminga, a Congolese forward who skipped college for the G League Ignite, went seventh with the pick obtained from Minnesota; the Warriors added Moses Moody at No. 14.

Stephen Curry was born in which Ohio city while his father Dell played an NBA season nearby?

Akron is also the hometown of LeBron James, the rival Curry met in four straight Finals. The Curry family soon settled in North Carolina.

Stephen Curry became a national star at which North Carolina college during the 2008 NCAA tournament?

Davidson had not won an NCAA tournament game since 1969 until Curry scored 30 second-half points to beat Gonzaga in 2008.

Which heavy metal band played the first show at the Warriors' San Francisco arena in September 2019?

Metallica shared the stage with the San Francisco Symphony for the grand opening, weeks before the Warriors played a game in the building.

Whose career three-point record did Stephen Curry break at Madison Square Garden in December 2021?

Ray Allen retired with 2,973 threes. Curry had earlier reached 2,000 of them in 227 fewer games than Allen needed.

Stephen Curry was originally signed to which sportswear giant before joining Under Armour in 2013?

Nike had Curry under contract first, but he left for a much smaller rival. That partnership lasted through late 2025 and produced his own Curry Brand.

The Warriors' owners launched a WNBA expansion team in 2025 under which nickname?

Valkyries players reached the playoffs in their first season, something no WNBA expansion franchise had managed before.

Stephen Curry's four late three-pointers clinched Olympic gold in 2024 in a final against which country?

France had home advantage in Paris, but Curry scored 24 points in the final of what was his first Olympic tournament.

Which team missed 27 straight three-pointers in a Game 7 loss to the Warriors in the 2018 playoffs?

Houston Rockets shooters went cold with a lead at home, and the Warriors erased a double-digit deficit to reach a fourth straight Finals.

Which Hall of Famer went sixth in the 1978 draft, one pick after the Warriors took Purvis Short?

Larry Bird returned to Indiana State for his senior season, so the team that drafted him waited a year for his debut.

Klay Thompson's father and older brother reached the NBA, but brother Trayce went pro in which sport?

Baseball took Trayce Thompson to the major leagues, while eldest brother Mychel followed their father Mychal with a brief NBA stint.

The Warriors moved their G League affiliate from North Dakota in 2012 to which California beach city?

Santa Cruz took in a club that had played in Bismarck as the Dakota Wizards, which the Warriors had bought only a year earlier.

Which Warriors coach passed Lenny Wilkens in April 2010 to top the NBA's all-time wins list?

Don Nelson is credited with pioneering the point forward, and his fast, mismatch-hunting style became known as Nellie Ball.

Which centre, a Warrior from 1963 to 1974, later recorded the NBA's first official quadruple-double?

Nate Thurmond managed it in his first game after the Warriors traded him, with 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks.

Which shot-blocker, one of the NBA's two tallest players ever, launched threes for the 1988–89 Warriors?

Manute Bol tried a career-high 91 three-pointers that season and made 20. His first name means special blessing in the Dinka language.

Warriors guard Šarūnas Marčiulionis, among the NBA's first Soviet players, came from which republic?

Lithuania won Olympic bronze in 1992 after Marčiulionis, a Warrior since 1989, raised money for the team with the Grateful Dead among its sponsors.

Which Warriors point guard threw down a famous dunk over Utah's Andrei Kirilenko in the 2007 playoffs?

Baron Davis had just led the eighth-seeded Warriors past a 67-win top seed, at the time the biggest upset by record in playoff history.

Which Australian centre, a former first overall pick, did the Warriors acquire in 2012 for Monta Ellis?

Andrew Bogut was the first Australian taken first overall in the NBA draft, and he made the All-Defensive Second Team in the Warriors' 2015 title season.

Which forward became the Warriors' first All-Star in 16 years when he was named a reserve in 2013?

David Lee ended a wait going back to Latrell Sprewell in 1997, then lost his starting place to Draymond Green after a 2014 hamstring strain.

Which landmark became the centrepiece of the Warriors' primary logo in their 2010 rebrand?

Bay Bridge appears as its new eastern span, which did not open to traffic until 2013, three years after the logo's debut.

Which Warriors forward led the league in scoring as a rookie as the team won its first title in 1947?

Joe Fulks, known as Jumping Joe, averaged 23.2 points that season and in 1949 set a single-game record with 63.

Which team, then based in Fort Wayne, did the Warriors beat in five games to win the 1956 NBA title?

Pistons owner Fred Zollner ran a Fort Wayne foundry that made engine pistons, and the club moved to Detroit a year after that Finals loss.

Which long-armed Warriors centre reached into a dolphin's stomach in 1978 to remove a swallowed screw?

Clifford Ray was asked to help because the park vet's arms were too short; his measured three feet nine inches, and he freed the screw safely.

Which forward nicknamed 'Silk' was Rookie of the Year with the 1975 champion Warriors?

Jamaal Wilkes began his NBA career as Keith Wilkes, and he went on to win three more championships in Los Angeles.

Which forward won the NBA's first Comeback Player of the Year award with the Warriors in 1981?

Bernard King had been suspended by Utah the season before; four years after his Warriors revival he led the NBA in scoring as a Knick.

Which guard, drafted 31st by the Warriors in 2001, later had an NBA free-agency rule named after him?

Gilbert Arenas left for the Wizards in 2003 because the capped-out Warriors could not match an offer to a second-round pick, a gap the rule closed.

Draymond Green reached two Final Fours with which college before the Warriors drafted him in 2012?

Michigan State kept Green for four years, and he left with the most rebounds in school history before sliding to the draft's second round.

Stephen Curry was the first Western Conference finals MVP, a trophy named after which Hall of Famer?

Magic Johnson made his NBA debut in 1979, and the trophy bearing his name was first presented after the 2022 conference finals.

Stephen Curry pledged in 2019 to fund Howard University's new men's and women's teams in which sport?

Golf is Curry's other sporting love: he took it up at age 10 and won the 2023 American Century Championship, a celebrity tournament at Lake Tahoe.

Which former sports agent was the Warriors' general manager for four championships between 2015 and 2022?

Bob Myers was twice named NBA Executive of the Year. He joined UCLA as a walk-on and was on the Bruins team that won the 1995 national championship.

Which player, drafted third overall by the Warriors in 2002, became the team's general manager in 2023?

Mike Dunleavy Jr. came back to the Warriors as a pro scout in 2018 and was assistant general manager within a year.

Which centre did Draymond Green put in a headlock in November 2023, drawing a five-game suspension?

Rudy Gobert had been trying to pull two other players apart, and the NBA cited Green's past conduct when it set the ban.

Klay Thompson set an NBA record with 37 points in one quarter of a January 2015 game against which team?

Sacramento Kings defenders saw Thompson make all 13 of his shots in that third quarter, nine of them threes, on the way to 52 points.

Warriors co-owner Peter Guber joined the group that paid $2.15 billion for which MLB team in 2012?

Dodgers part-ownership is one of several sports stakes for Guber, a Hollywood producer whose credits include Rain Man and Batman.

The 2023 Apple TV+ documentary about Stephen Curry's path to NBA stardom carries which one-word subtitle?

Underrated premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023. Unanimous is the name of Curry's own production company, which co-produced it.

Which North Carolina forward did the Warriors draft seventh in 2012, 28 picks before Draymond Green?

Harrison Barnes had been named a preseason All-American before his first college game, and he won a championship with the Warriors in 2015.

Tim Hardaway's signature Warriors move, dubbed the UTEP Two-step, was which type of dribble?

Crossover dribbles at full speed made Hardaway a five-time All-Star, and he developed the move in college at Texas-El Paso.

Chris Mullin joined the Warriors in 1985 after starring for which New York college?

St. John's reached the 1985 Final Four behind Mullin, a Brooklyn native who won that year's Wooden Award as college player of the year.

Which WNBA star did Stephen Curry beat 29–26 in a three-point shootout at the 2024 All-Star weekend?

Sabrina Ionescu, who grew up in the Bay Area, had scored 37 points in the WNBA's 2023 three-point contest, the most in league history at the time.

The Warriors' arena that opened in 2019 stands in which San Francisco neighbourhood?

Mission Bay was the second choice of site: the Warriors first proposed building on Piers 30 and 32, then bought 12 acres from Salesforce in 2014.

Which cable TV entrepreneur owned the Warriors for 16 seasons until 2010, reaching the playoffs only once?

Chris Cohan built his fortune on Sonic Communications, the cable company he founded in 1977, and his Warriors managed only two winning seasons.

The Warriors' longtime East Bay arena carried which technology company's name from 2006 to 2019?

Oracle Arena got so loud at Warriors games during the team's 2010s resurgence that fans nicknamed it Roaracle.

Stephen Curry and his father Dell share which legal first name, which neither man goes by?

Wardell Stephen Curry II is the Warriors star's full name; his father, the first Wardell Stephen Curry, shortened it to Dell.

Draymond Green became the first Warrior ever to win which individual NBA award in 2017?

Defensive Player of the Year voters had placed Green second in each of the two previous seasons before he won while leading the league in steals.

Which 7-foot-4 former Rookie of the Year joined the Warriors in a 1987 trade as his knees were failing?

Ralph Sampson had been the first overall pick in 1983 and a three-time college player of the year, but he managed only 90 games for the Warriors.

Which forward, born in Harbin in what is now China, was the first Warrior to have his number retired?

Tom Meschery was honoured in 1967 on the night he first played against the Warriors, and he has since published poetry, memoirs and novels.

Which Warriors forward missed two seasons serving in the Marines, then starred for the 1956 NBA champions?

Paul Arizin won NBA scoring titles on either side of his Korean War service and became famous for his line-drive jump shot.

Which player, drafted 19th by the Warriors in 2023, was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team?

Brandin Podziemski had scored only 22 points in his whole first college season before transferring and becoming a conference co-player of the year.

Which promoter nicknamed 'the Mogul' was the Warriors' first coach and later the owner who sent them west?

Eddie Gottlieb also drew up the NBA's schedule for the last three decades of his life, and the Rookie of the Year trophy long carried his name.

The Warriors won the first championship of which league in 1947, two years before it merged to form the NBA?

Basketball Association of America teams joined with the rival National Basketball League in 1949, and the merged league took the name NBA.

Which defensive specialist on the Warriors' 2022 title team is the son of a Hall of Famer known as 'The Glove'?

Gary Payton II went undrafted in 2016 and bounced around the G League for years before his breakthrough; his own nickname is Young Glove.