The Warriors open their season on the road, continue their annual Christmas tradition and are set to welcome back Klay Thompson to the Chase Center early in the season.
Golden State has marquee matchups against the defending champion Celtics in November, a rematch of last year’s play-in tournament bout with the Kings in January, the All-Star Game at home amid a difficult February. They play the Lakers on Christmas and Boston again on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
As is standard, the Warriors play each Eastern Conference team twice and each Western Conference team at least three times. They have 14 back-to-backs scheduled and 80 total games scheduled, with two to be added based on the NBA Cup results.
Here are the key dates and takeaways from Golden State’s schedule release:
Busy start
Not only do the Warriors open the season with multiple away games for the first time since 1999, they also play seven of their first 10 games overall away from the Chase Center.
Golden State’s season opener is on Oct. 23 in Portland. From there, they head to Utah to play the Jazz. The home opener against the Clippers is next, on Oct. 27, followed by back-to-back home games against the Pelicans.
Afterwards, they hit the road for five straight games — including a big-time matchup against Boston on Nov. 6.
Last time the Celtics and Warriors met, Boston demolished the Warriors, 140-88. Jayson Tatum — benched by Steve Kerr in Olympics play, and Jaylen Brown, who wasn’t selected to Team USA, might try to score 140 on their own.
In addition to the Warriors’ busy start to the season, they have Jonathan Kuminga’s extension to sort out. Kuminga is eligible to sign a rookie-scale extension up until the day before the season starts. If he doesn’t, he’d be set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the year.
Klay Thompson’s return
On Nov. 6, Klay Thompson’s Mavericks are scheduled to come to the Chase Center.
Thompson, who spent 13 iconic years with the Warriors franchise, departed this offseason for Dallas, the defending Western Conference champions.
Never one to hide his emotions, Thompson might have a tough time not tearing up after whatever tribute video the Warriors show on the big screen. Ditto for the thousands of fans who fell in love with the icon over the years.
Thompson’s return is the Warrior’s NBA Cup opener. They’ll play four Group Stage games before either the Knockout Round or two more games get put on their schedule for them.
Holiday pay
For the 12th straight season, the Warriors are playing on Christmas Day. And for the 12th time in the past 13 years, they’re playing on Martin Luther King Jr Day, too.
Steph Curry and LeBron James are set to face off in the marquee Christmas Day game. The duo that has defined their generation starred for Team USA in Paris and always make for great theater. The Lakers-Warriors game on Christmas will tip off at 5 p.m. on ABC.
The Warriors’ MLK Day game is their second matchup with the Celtics. That Jan. 20 bout is set for 2 p.m. on TNT.
Winter is coming
The Warriors get the All-Star Game at home, but will be spending much of the weeks surrounding the Feb. 16 festivities in hotels.
In February, the Warriors have eight games scheduled on the road compared to three at the Chase Center. A six-game road trip — from Utah to Los Angeles to Chicago to Milwaukee to Dallas and Houston — leads them into the All-Star break. Then shortly after the break, they ship out to the East Coast for four games in six days.
From the start of February to March 6, the Warriors are scheduled to play 12 of 15 games on the road.
And that’s before Golden State even gets to its longest road trip of the season. That distinction would be from March 22 to April 3, when the Warriors head to Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans before swinging back to the West Coast through San Antonio and Memphis for a six-game trip.
Whole lotta history
Thompson’s return will be sentimental. But there are plenty of other matchups with no love lost.
That’s only natural for the Warriors, a team that’s been at the top of the league for the better part of a decade. And, well, for a team with Draymond Green.
The Warriors’ first matchup with Phoenix is on Nov. 30. That’ll be the first time of the year the play former Warrior Kevin Durant and one of Green’s nemeses from last year in center Jusuf Nurkic.
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Less than a week later, the Warriors will face a mini gauntlet of Green’s rivals. Dillon Brooks, one of the league’s biggest instigators, has tried to get under Green’s skin since he played against the Warriors in the playoffs for the Grizzlies in 2022. Brooks’ Rockets are in town on Dec. 5 — the first night of a spicy back-to-back.
The next night, Dec. 6, the Warriors play Minnesota for the first time of the season. Green’s infamous headlock of Rudy Gobert is just one example of his distaste for the Timberwolves center. Even this summer, Green has taken shots at Gobert on social media and on his podcast. Gobert certainly isn’t a fan of Green, having insinuated Green intentionally gets ejected when Curry’s inactive and tweeting, “insecurity is always loud” after the video of Green punching Jordan Poole surfaced.
The rest of December features two more games against the Timberwolves and another Suns matchup.
The next month, on Jan. 5, the Warriors will meet the Kings for the first time of the year. Last season, Sacramento eliminated Golden State in the play-in round, ending Thompson’s tenure with the franchise on a sour note.
