From the early 1950s teams to the mid-1970s teams, to the current dynasty, the Warriors have had a lot of incredible players come through their organization. Creating an all-time starting lineup for the Warriors is no easy task but using Win Shares, an all-in-one measure of career production from Basketball-Reference, helps separate elite from the very best.
Warriors all-time starting lineup: Point guard, Stephen Curry, 128.0 Win Shares
Stephen Curry is the best player in the history of the Golden State Warriors and has the highest Win Shares total in team history. Curry has played his entire career with the Warriors which does play to his advantage but he has certainly earned his spot here. Our fantasy lineup is going to have a lot of spacing and Curry gets us off to a very good start.
While he is still currently playing in the league, his 128 Win Shares rank 39th all-time. With how efficient Curry's game is, that ranking will most likely go up before he's done. Due to the fact that the Warriors were running two timelines during half of Curry's career, this is even more impressive impressive. The Warriors have not been fully invested in making sure Curry has had enough talent around the team since Durant left. Instead, they opted to build for a post-Curry timeline where they can still be competitive for a title and make the playoffs regularly.
Warriors all-time starting lineup: Shooting guard, Paul Arizin, 108.0 Win Shares
Klay Thompson may be the most recognizable shooting guard for modern Warriors fans. But not putting the player who has the third-best Win Shares mark in franchise history would be very weird. Therefore, we have Paul Arizin here as our shooting guard. The Hall of Famer played in the 1950s and helped the Warriors dominate the league during that time. Arizin averaged 22 points and 8 rebounds during his career.
Arizin ended up his career with 108 Win Shares for his entire career. He played before the 3-point shot but he ended up shooting 42 percent from the field. This team will need a little bit of spacing with Curry and Arizin will provide that, even if he was technically a small forward in his era and may not be used to the modern 3-point line.
Warriors all-time starting lineup: Small forward, Rick Barry, 85.9 Win Shares
Rick Barry is one of the greatest players in franchise history and led the Warriors to a championship in 1975. After the Warriors were led by Wilt Chamberlain and his cast during the early days of the NBA, the team did not have a lot of amazing moments until Barry helped revitalize them.
Barry was able to fill in nice moments for the Warriors during a time when the team generally struggled. After the team fall apart in 1978, the Warriors went through a really tough time where they didn't make the playoffs for the next nine years.
The franchise really didn't do much else until Curry was drafted by the team — the 2007, We Believe Warriors were incredible but also a one-off that didn't feature any real franchise legends.
Barry helped create memories for a lot of Warriors fans. He was celebrated a lot like the early 1970s Knicks are celebrated now by New York fans due to the fact that the team didn't have a lot of success during that time.
Warriors all-time starting lineup: Power Forward, Neil Johnston, 92.0 Win Shares
Neil Johnston is a Hall-of-Famer who played during the 1950s. He was a dominant rebounder and bucket-getter. He only played eight seasons for the team but during that time he averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds per game for his career. While that might not seem like a lot keep in mind that the game was a lot slower due to the lack of a shot clock.
While it might seem dumb to add a player who played before the shot clock, he is the fourth-best player when it comes to Win Shares in franchise history. It was too much of a difference to add Draymond Green (who has 68.0 Win Shares). With that in mind, Johnston still provides what is needed for this team.
This team needs a rebounder and another solid defender. Johnston is able to provide that and will allow this team to have a secondary rebounder in case another team is able to cancel out our all-time center with another all-time center.
Warriors all-time starting lineup: Center, Wilt Chamberlain, 112.4 Win Shares
Wilt Chamberlain played six seasons with the Warriors (technically they were with the Philadelphia Warriors but we're talking about the same franchise). Chamberlain was a dominant stat stuffer. He dominated so much that some people think that he is the GOAT, even though he played against weaker competition.
For this lineup, Chamberlain will be our main rebounding guy. I was considering putting a couple of small ball 4s due to the fact that Chamberlain was such a dominant rebounder but I am assuming that this lineup is only playing against other team's best teams of all time. This group has a lot of players from older eras but between Curry's shooting, Chamberlain's interior dominance and the supporting cast they should be just fine.
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