LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 13: Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors throws his arms up in the third quarter of a preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers at T-Mobile Arena on October 13, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Warriors defeated the Lakers 101-89. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images Bryan Murphy Sat, October 24, 2026 at 8:00 PM UTC · 4 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last night's loss will reverberate for the rest of the season, just from a statistical standpoint. Oh sure, it's confirming all of our fears, but fandom and emotionalism are one in the same. Most of us already figured that the Golden State Warriors were in their post dynasty era. Their managed decline. Their hospice years. But, that was their most likely win out of their first 6 games, so the situation actually feels worse than lose labels. History doesn't offer us any hope, except in one weird case.
With (at minimum) Steph Curry and Brandin Podziemski sitting tonight for the back-to-back in Phoenix, it's highly probable the Warriors will lose, in which case they'll start a season 0-3 for just the 10th time in franchise history . The other times:
1964-65 1984-85 1985-86 1987-88 1997-98 1999 (lockout) 1999-2000 2004-05 2007-08
Now, that post-We Believe team is the meaningful exception on the list. It's the entire point of this article. No other time has a Warriors team started 0-3 and gone on to have a winning record. Outside of 2007-08's 48-34 record, only the 2004-2005 edition won over 30 games (34-48).
But these 26-27 Warriors look setup to start quite a bit worse than 0-3, don't you think? After bricking the home opener and playing short against Phoenix, they'll go to Denver, then Minnesota, and come back home to host the Lakers. So, yeah. If the situation feels grim, it's because it is. And 0-6 feels very like. But it's not inevitable. Just 63 teams have started a season 0-6 in the history of the league .
Sure, only five of those teams went on to have a winning record (and because the Eastern Conference has always been a bit of a joke, eight have gone on to make the playoffs), but one of those teams — and I can't stress this enough — was the 2007-2008 Warriors . That team finished 48-34… and missed the playoffs, sure, but I digress!
Stephen Jackson missed the start of that season after being suspended for pleading out over an altercation outside of a night club and his return was enough to spark the Dubs to an 11-3 run that saved their season.
Of course, Moses Moody and Jimmy Butler are months (and months!) away. In the meantime, the Warriors will be depth-less and because of their best players being older, often short-handed. Thanks to all the roster moves Mike Dunleavy Jr. didn't (or couldn't) make this past offseason and what the team hasn't been able to do the past couple of years will simply point the franchise towards a dead end.
I'd like to think the randomness of sports and life could be a reason to retain a shred of hope, but then I look at the 2007-2008 roster next to this season's and I can't help but note that Don Nelson's team had just two players 30 or older on it: Chris Webber (34, 9 games) and Troy Hudson (31, 9 games). Steve Kerr's has five . I look back at the list of 63 teams in NBA history to start 0-6 and note that the Warriors appear on it twice more: 1997-98 and the aforementioned 2004-05. It seems improbable they'd get off to such a bad start, but it feels like a certainty.
It doesn't feel like one of those situations where "it's only two games into the season" is a meaningful comment. What frustrates me the most about the NBA (besides the officiating) is how set in stone it all is. Sure, some kind souls might've projected 43 wins for Golden State this season , but the weighted nature of these slimmer rosters mean that it doesn't take much for things to go very wrong and there's not much that can be done to change course in-season. And from there, it's easy to project how things will go if certain drastic actions aren't taken.
This Warriors season has started more or less as feared and as plainly predictable given the totality of their circumstances. They can't be accused of stasis, but their acquisition strategy has turned their tricky situation into a near-impossible one. Steph Curry is unlikely to play like he's 34 again, and if the team can't supplement their veteran players with quality youth and depth, then the last few years of Curry's illustrious career will be as painful as the start to this season. Obviously.
Source: Sports
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