The Golden State Warriors were founded as the Philadelphia Warriors in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise moved to San Francisco, California, and became known as the San Francisco Warriors. In 1971, the team was renamed Golden State Warriors. The team has won seven championships: the first in its inaugural 1946–47 season, another in Philadelphia in 1955–56, and five more as Golden State in the 1974–75, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2021–22 seasons.
1946–1962: Philadelphia 1946–1959: The Fulks and Arizin era
The Warriors were founded in Philadelphia in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, a charter member of the Basketball Association of America. They were owned by Peter A. Tyrrell, who also owned the Philadelphia Rockets of the American Hockey League. Tyrell hired Eddie Gottlieb, a longtime basketball promoter in the Philadelphia area, as coach and general manager. Gottlieb named the team after the Philadelphia Warriors, which he founded with his friends Harry Passon and Hughie Black in 1917 as the Philadelphia YMHA, which was sponsored by the Young Men's Hebrew Association of South Philadelphia and played in the minor league American League of Philadelphia, before being renamed the Philadelphia Sphas (1918–1921, 1922–1926, 1927–1933, 1937–1959) — a team of primarily Jewish players that was sponsored by the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association and played in the Eastern Basketball League and American Basketball League — and subsequently renamed the Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black (after the founders) (1921–1923); the Philadelphia Warriors (1926–1928); the Philadelphia Hebrews (1933–1937); the Atlantic City Tides (1949); and the Baltimore Rockets (1959), an exhibition team for the Harlem Globetrotters. Today, some, including former NBA player Carmelo Anthony, have called on the team to change its name because Warriors are associated with Native American iconography, although the term itself has been used to describe many types of warfarers, both past and present, however team management today in regards to the controversy over the team's name history, has stated the name "Warriors" is now nothing more than an honorable reference to the United States military.
Led by early scoring sensation Joe Fulks, the Warriors won the championship in the league's inaugural 1946–47 season by defeating the Chicago Stags, four games to one. (The BAA merged with the National Basketball League to become the National Basketball Association in 1949.) Among the individual Warriors highlights of the 1940s, Fulks set an NBA single-game scoring record of 63 points in 1949 that stood for more than 10 years. Gottlieb bought the team in 1951.
The Warriors won their other championship as a Philadelphia team in the 1955–56 season, defeating the Fort Wayne Pistons, four games to one. The stars of this era in the team's history were future Hall of Famers Paul Arizin, Tom Gola and Neil Johnston. Arizin and Johnston won five of the six NBA scoring titles between the 1951–52 and 1956–57 seasons, while Johnston led the NBA in rebounding during the 1954–55 season and Andy Phillip led the NBA in assists twice during the early 1950s.
1959–1965: The scoring machine – Wilt Chamberlain era
In 1959, the team signed draft pick Wilt Chamberlain, a Philadelphia native (he graduated from Overbrook High School). Known as "Wilt the Stilt", Chamberlain quickly began shattering NBA scoring and rebounding records and changed the style of play forever. During each of his three seasons as a Philadelphia Warrior, Chamberlain led the NBA in both scoring and rebounding. In his first season, he was named NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA All-Star Game MVP, and the league's regular season MVP after averaging 37.6 points per game and 27.0 rebounds per game. In his second season, he set still-standing records when he averaged 27.2 rebounds per game and grabbed 55 rebounds in a single game. On March 2, 1962, in a Warriors game played on a neutral court in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks, a single-game record that the NBA ranks among its finest moments.NBA's 100 top moments , retrieved 5 Dec 2007 During that season, his third in the league, Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points per game and 25.7 rebounds per game.
1962–1971: San Francisco
In 1962, Franklin Mieuli purchased a majority share of the team and moved the franchise to the San Francisco Bay Area. Renaming the San Francisco Warriors, they played most home games at the Cow Palace in Daly City, just south of the San Francisco border, with occasionally playing home games in nearby cities such as Oakland and San Jose. During their first season in San Francisco, Chamberlain again led the league in scoring at 44.8 points per game and rebounding at 24.3 rebounds per game.
Before the 1963–64 season, the Warriors drafted 6'11" power forward Nate Thurmond to play with Chamberlain. The Warriors won the 1963–64 Western Division title, but lost the NBA championship series to the Boston Celtics led by Bill Russell, four games to one.
During the 1964–65 season, the Warriors traded Wilt Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers, and they finished the season with only 17 wins. In the off-season, the Warriors drafted Rick Barry in the first round. Barry was named the 1965–66 NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 25.7 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game. With the opening of the Oakland Coliseum Arena in 1966, the Warriors began scheduling increasing numbers of home games at that venue.
In the 1966–67 season, Barry averaged a league-leading 35.6 points per game and Nate Thurmond averaged 21.3 RPG. Together, they helped to lead the Warriors to the best record in the Western Division and ultimately, the NBA finals. The team lost in six games to the team that replaced the Warriors in Philadelphia, the 76ers, despite Barry's output of 40.8 points per game performance during the NBA Finals.
Angered by management's failure to pay him certain incentive awards he felt he was due, Barry sat out the 1967–68 season, joining the Oakland Oaks of the rival American Basketball Association the following year.
1971–2019: Oakland
The Warriors changed their name to the Golden State Warriors for the 1971–72 season, playing almost all home games in Oakland. Six "home" games were played in San Diego during that season but more significantly, none were played in San Francisco or Daly City. After changing their name from the San Francisco Warriors, the Warriors became (and remain) the only NBA team that does not include the name of their state or their city in their name (although "Golden State" is a well-known California nickname).
After four seasons in the ABA, Barry rejoined the Warriors in 1972.
1974–1976: Championship contention
The 1974–75 team was coached by former Warrior Al Attles, and was led on the court by Rick Barry and Jamaal Wilkes. Wilkes was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, while Barry had a great all-around season averaging 30.6 points per game, leading the league in both free throw percentage and steals per game, and finishing sixth in the league in assists per game. In what many consider the biggest upset in the history of the NBA, the Warriors defeated the heavily favored Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep. So little was felt of the team's chances in the playoffs, even by their home fans, that the Coliseum Arena scheduled other events during the dates of the NBA playoffs. As a result, the Warriors did not play their championship series playoff games in Oakland; rather, they played at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Barry averaged 29.5 points per game during the Finals and was named the NBA Finals MVP.
At 59–23, the Warriors had the league's best record during the 1975–76 season. They were upset, however, by the 42–40 Phoenix Suns in seven games in the Western Conference Finals.
1976–1985: Collapse and resurgence Because of the loss of key players such as Barry, Wilkes and Thurmond, to bad trades and retirements, along with the poor business decision not to offer Gus Williams a mere $175,000, the Warriors would struggle to put a competitive team on the court from 1978 to 1987 following their time as one of the NBA's dominant teams during the 1960s and through most of the early and mid 1970s. They would, however, through the draft acquire such standout players such as high-scoring forward Purvis Short (1978), former Georgetown Hoyas point guard Eric "Sleepy" Floyd (1982) (who would later become an All-Star before being traded to the Houston Rockets), and former Purdue University standout center Joe Barry Carroll (1980) whose once promising career would be short-circuited because of injury, as well as center Robert Parish (1976), whom they would trade to the Boston Celtics in 1980.
The departure of these players for various reasons symbolized the franchise's futility during this period, as head coach Al Attles would move up into the front office to become the team's general manager in 1980, and the team would go through several coaching changes. However, with Attles installed as general manager, they would finally manage to climb back to respectability by hiring former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach George Karl as head coach in 1986. They would also find a diamond in the rough, of sorts, that would change the direction of the franchise, drafting St. John's University standout sharpshooting small forward Chris Mullin in the 1985 NBA draft.
1985–1997: The "Run TMC" era
After a subpar stretch in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the team had a brief resurgence with coach Karl, culminating in a famous 1987 Western Conference Semifinal match against Magic Johnson's Lakers, which is still shown on TV in the NBA's Greatest Games series. In the game, the Warriors' NBA All-Star point guard Sleepy Floyd had an amazing performance in the second half, which is still the NBA playoff record for points scored in a quarter (29) and in a half (39). Floyd scored 12 consecutive field goals in the fourth quarter, finishing the game with 51 points, and leading the Warriors to victory. The "Sleepy Floyd Game" was a catalyst for increased interest in the NBA in the Bay Area, which was furthered by new coach Don Nelson who engineered another successful string of wins in the late 1980s to early 1990s with the high scoring trio of point guard Tim Hardaway, guard Mitch Richmond, and forward Chris Mullin (collectively known as "Run TMC" after the rap group Run-D.M.C.). Most notably, the Warriors twice achieved first-round playoff upsets as a seventh-seeded team, first in when they eliminated Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz, and in when they took down David Robinson's San Antonio Spurs. However, coach Don Nelson wishing to get frontcourt players to complement his run-and-gun system, made a trade that broke up the Run TMC core by sending Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for Billy Owens. Richmond went on to become a multiple-time All-Star with the Kings while Owens never lived up to his potential. The 1991–92 Warriors finished with 55 wins, their best season since 1976, and earned Nelson Coach of the Year honors. However, the Warriors were ousted in the first round by the Gary Payton-led Seattle SuperSonics. Nelson was brought to the team by Jim Fitzgerald, who owned the team between 1986 and 1995. The following year, 1993–94, with first-round draft pick and Rookie of the Year Chris Webber playing alongside Latrell Sprewell, the Warriors made the playoffs.