Ten takeaways from the Warriors 2024-25 schedule

TV games, back-to-backs, rivalries and the biggest games of the season were revealed when Golden State’s schedule came out Thursday

The Golden State Warriors may have declined since their 2022 title, but the new NBA schedule, released Thursday, reveals that they’re still one of the league’s premier franchises.

Combing through the schedule, we’ve come up with ten takeaways about important games, brutal stretches, and national television’s continuing love affair with Wardell Stephen Curry and the Dubs.

1. LeBron James vs. Steph Curry is still the biggest draw in the NBA

The Warriors play the Los Angeles Lakers four times every year. This season, the first game is a prime-time battle on Christmas Day on ABC. The second meeting is another prime-time battle on ABC a month later. The next two matchups are nationally-televised on TNT.

Golden State finished 10th last year, while the Lakers were one game ahead of them in 8th. The Warriors lost in the first play-in game, while the Lakers suffered a gentleman’s sweep in the first round against the Denver Nuggets. Nevertheless, the Lakers have the most national TV games next year with 39, while the Warriors are second with 36. Though they’re getting older and their teams haven’t been great recently, LeBron and Steph are still the top attractions in basketball.

2. The team will really need that week off for the All-Star Game

The All-Star Game may be at the Chase Center this season, but the Warriors won’t spend much time there in the weeks preceding the game. Golden State plays six road games in nine days heading into the break, finishing with a Texas back-to-back against the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets just ahead of Valentine’s Day.

3. But they’ll be home a lot for the holidays

From December 23 to January 7, the Warriors play eight out of nine games at home, and their lone road game is a quick jaunt to the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. They’ll have 18 straight days where they won’t have to leave the state of California, which is good because seven of those nine opponents made the playoffs last year, and the two that didn’t, the Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies, will almost certainly be fighting for playoff spots this year.

4. The team drew the “Group of Death” for the Emirates NBA Cup

There’s no easy draw when it comes to the in-season tournament for the Western Conference, where 12 of the 15 teams have legitimate aspirations to playing in the post-season. 13 if you are bullish on Victor Wembanyama’s ability to elevate his teammates in San Antonio.

But even by the brutal standards of the Western gladiator pit, West Group C is extremely tough. It features two of the last three NBA champions and the last three Western champions, plus the Grizzlies, who were the No. 2 seed in 2022 and 2023, along with the 49-win New Orleans Pelicans. Meanwhile the Lakers drew the Spurs and the Utah Jazz, setting themselves up for a great chance to hang their most embarrassing banner a second time.

5. Draymond Green may end up on Santa’s naughty list after the December schedule

The Minnesota Timberwolves play the Warriors three times in December. That means Draymond Green will face his archenemy Rudy Gobert in consecutive games at the Chase Center Dec. 6 and 8, then in Minneapolis on Dec. 21. That’s exactly the scenario in which Green drew a five-game suspension for throttling Gobert last season, in the second of two San Francisco home games.

That’s not all. The knockout round of the in-season tournament happens the second week of December, meaning that the Warriors could conceivably face the Wolves a fourth time in the month. If that’s the case, it might be too much to ask Green to resist his impulse to antagonize Gobert, one shared by Olympian Joel Embiid this month.

6. Klay Thompson’s return trips are both big events

Thompson’s first game back at the Chase Center in another team’s uniform happens Nov. 12, which is going to be weird, and sad, and full of video tributes, and captain’s hats, and probably a lot of ill-advised leaning jumpers. It’s also a national TNT game and the Warriors’ first game of the in-season tournament.

But his second game back is also a high-profile event. On Sunday, Feb. 23, Golden State hosts the Dallas Mavericks in an early-afternoon game on ABC. Mike Breen will be on the call, along with Doris Burke and some color commentator who is going to imminently take an NBA head coaching job. (ESPN never had to worry about that with Mark Jackson!) If it wasn’t already a highly-charged game, there’s the extra electricity of the national TV game.

One key factor? It’s going to be tough for Thompson to get in a boat trip or a dip in the ocean ahead of the 12:30 start time, a huge advantage for the Dubs.

7. Rivals Week goes 3-for-4 in rivalries

Technically, the NBA’s “Rivals Week” only applies to national TV games between Jan. 21 and Jan. 25, but the calendar week also includes Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 20, when the Warriors will host the world-champion Celtics, who want revenge for the 2022 NBA Finals and for Steve Kerr benching Jayson Tatum.

Their other game that week is against the Chicago Bulls, and it’s simply hard to work up a basis for a rivalry there. Are the Warriors worked up about the Bulls’ unwillingness to trade them Alex Caruso? Does Steve Kerr want revenge against the fans who booed Jerry Krause’s widow last year? Perhaps it’s the simmering tension from when Buddy Hield and Zach LaVine exchanged near-pushes last season.

8. The season’s toughest road trip happens early

Ten days after the season tips off, Golden State embarks on what might be their toughest road trip of the season, at least in terms of their opponents. They start off on Nov. 2 in Houston, then face the NBA champion Celtics, the No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers, and the West’s No. 1 seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder. They do a get a theoretical break against the Washington Wizards, but they also have to fly roughly 3,000 miles to get face Jordan Poole & Company.

So, don’t panic about the Warriors’ record after ten games, because the initial travel is a doozy.

9. The back-to-back schedule is favorable

Golden State is scheduled for 14 back-to-back games this season, slightly below the NBA average of 14.9. Nine of those 14 come at home, which is both favorable and a result of West Coast geography. They play three games in four nights 11 times, an average number.

But their advantage comes in facing opponents who are playing back-to-backs 18 times, 14 of those coming when the Warriors themselves have had a night off ahead of the game. As 12 opponent back-to-backs are in San Francisco, it should help reverse last year’s odd struggles at home (21-20 record).

10. Tanks rolling in could help them close strong

Down the stretch of the NBA season, the games get more intense. Except for the teams trying to lose more games for a shot at drafting Cooper Flagg next June. By our reckoning, Golden State plays 8 of their last 20 games against teams that by March, might be incentivized to lose.

They get three straight games against the Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, and Portland Trail Blazers from March 6-10. They also get the Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, and a second Blazers matchup. The wild card is the San Antonio Spurs, who might want to get a high draft pick, but Wembanyama is highly competitive. Plus, the Spurs trounced the Warriors last March with nothing to play for, and no Wemby.

Still, it’s always nice to play teams that could be benching players and making questionable lineup decisions while the Warriors are in a dogfight for playoff seeding. It’s a reason to think another late-season push may be in the cards, thanks to various tank commanders. Overall, we’d call the schedule “cautiously hopeful,” and isn’t that how all fans should feel in August?