Stephen Curry is the undeniable face of the Warriors’ franchise. An underrated, gutsy point guard out of Davidson College who crafted the legacy of a 2010s dynasty that will always live on. He changed basketball. He changed the Bay Area. He changed the very way the game is played.
But the Warriors’ story didn’t start with Curry. It didn’t start in Oakland. It didn’t even start in California.
The franchise’s roots go back to Philadelphia in the 1940s, before its 1962 relocation to the West Coast. The Philadelphia Warriors won the first-ever Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship in 1947 – a full nine years before the NBA even existed as we know it today.
One all-time – arguably top-10 – player in NBA history not named Curry played for Golden State in the 1960s. Several others built the foundation long before the splash brothers ever took a dribble.
Not making the top four? Modern-day icons Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, despite their indelible impact on recent great Warriors teams. Instead, taking their place in the third- and fourth-place spots are two legends from the franchise’s long-ago past.
Let’s break down the Warriors’ Mount Rushmore – the four faces that best represent nearly eight decades of basketball excellence.
Honorable Mentions: The Legends Who Just Missed
Before we get to the top four, let’s acknowledge the players who shaped Warriors history but didn’t quite make the cut.
Klay Thompson (2013-2024): The second-greatest shooter in NBA history. A five-time All-Star. A four-time champion. The man who scored 37 points in a single quarter. Klay was the perfect complement to Curry – a lockdown defender who could catch fire at any moment. His 60-point game on 11 dribbles remains one of the most absurd statistical achievements in sports history.
Draymond Green (2012-present): The defensive genius. The emotional heart of the dynasty. A four-time champion, a Defensive Player of the Year, and the man who made the “Death Lineup” possible. Green’s basketball IQ is off the charts. His ability to guard all five positions changed the way teams think about defense.
Steve Kerr (2014-present): Four championships as a coach. The architect of the modern motion offense. Kerr took a talented but undisciplined Warriors team and turned them into a dynasty. His willingness to embrace analytics and player empowerment set the standard for the modern NBA.
Kevin Durant (2016-2019): Two championships. Two Finals MVPs. One of the greatest scorers ever. Durant’s three-year run in Golden State produced some of the most dominant basketball ever played. The only reason he’s not higher? Longevity. Three seasons just isn’t enough to crack the Mount Rushmore of a franchise with 80 years of history.
Nate Thurmond (1963-1974): The first真正的 Warriors big man. A seven-time All-Star. A five-time All-Defensive selection. Thurmond once grabbed 42 rebounds in a game – a franchise record that still stands. He was the bridge between the Wilt Chamberlain era and the Rick Barry era.
Chris Mullin (1985-1997; 2000-01): The left-handed assassin. A five-time All-Star. A member of the original “Run TMC” trio that made Warriors basketball fun again in the early 1990s. Mullin was a brilliant scorer and an even better shooter.
Neil Johnston (1951-1959): A six-time All-Star. A three-time scoring champion. Johnston led the NBA in field goal percentage four times. He was the dominant force of the early Philadelphia Warriors.
These are all legends. But they’re not Mount Rushmore material.
4. Paul Arizin (1950-1962)
Let’s start with the man who built the foundation.
Paul Arizin was the central building block for the Philadelphia Warriors before the team moved out west. He’s a player who easily gets overshadowed due to recency bias – and that’s a shame.
Arizin won two scoring titles (1952 and 1956). He formed an excellent backcourt with Neil Johnston. The 6-foot-4 native of La Salle, Pennsylvania, played for Villanova University and was picked by Philadelphia in 1950 after leading the NCAA in scoring.
His career was bookended by time missed serving in the Korean War. He missed two full seasons at his peak – and still made 10 All-Star teams, won an All-Star Game MVP in 1952, and led the Warriors to the 1956 NBA championship.
In his final season, Arizin averaged 21.9 points per game – at the time, the best tally of any player at the twilight of his career. He chose to retire in 1962 instead of following the team to the Bay Area.
But his greatness will still live on. Arizin was one of the first true stars of the NBA. Without him, there might not have been a Warriors franchise to move to California.
Why he’s on the list: Founding father. Scoring champion. Champion. Ten-time All-Star. He built the foundation.
3. Rick Barry (1965-1978)
Let’s talk about the face of the 1975 championship team.
Rick Barry was the last Warrior to win a title before the Curry era. The 1975 Warriors swept the Washington Bullets 4-0, and Barry was the undisputed MVP: 29.5 points, 4.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 steals per game.
Barry is known primarily for his “granny” free throw shooting style – an underhand technique that led to a career 89.3% mark. It looked ridiculous. It was also incredibly effective.
He played the game in an unorthodox, legendary fashion. Before joining the Rockets at the end of his career, Barry made six straight NBA All-Star teams and notched three First-Team All-NBA awards.
He remains the only player in basketball history to lead the NCAA, the ABA, and the NBA in scoring in a single season. Think about that. College. The rival league. The NBA. Barry was the best scorer at every level.
Why he’s on the list: Championship MVP. Scoring dominance across three leagues. The bridge between the Philadelphia and Golden State eras.
2. Wilt Chamberlain (1959-1965)
Let’s talk about the most physically dominant player in NBA history.
Wilt Chamberlain is known for his career entrenched with greatness – the 100-point game, the 50-point season average, the 20,000 women myth. But his time with the then-Philadelphia Warriors deserves a moment in the spotlight.
In his first career NBA game, played against the Knicks in 1960, Chamberlain scored 43 points and grabbed 28 rebounds. In his third game? 41 points and 40 rebounds against the Syracuse Nationals.
That season, he won Rookie of the Year, MVP, and All-Star Game MVP. He was unstoppable.
In 1962, still with the Philadelphia Warriors, Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game against the Knicks – a record that still stands today. The game is shrouded in mystery due to lack of video footage, but the legend remains.
Chamberlain didn’t win a title with the Warriors. He made the All-Star game in each of his six seasons from 1960 to 1965. He made the All-First Team from 1960 to 1962. He led the NBA in rebounds from 1960 to 1963 and scoring in every single season he played in Philadelphia.
Why he’s on the list: The 100-point game. The most dominant individual force in NBA history. A top-10 player all-time. Even without a championship, his impact is undeniable.
1. Stephen Curry (2013-Present)
Let’s state the obvious.
Stephen Curry is the undisputed greatest player in Warriors history. And his legacy is still being written.
When Curry came onto the scene in 2013, the Warriors had made just one playoff appearance since 1994. They were the butt of every joke in basketball – a team in need of something, anything.
Curry delivered a full-fledged dynasty. He took the franchise from the basement to the mountaintop, consistently and almost annoyingly to the rest of the league.
The Warriors won three NBA titles from 2015 to 2018, missing a three-peat by two minutes in the 2016 Finals’ vaunted Game 7 against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Curry took the Warriors back to the mountaintop in 2022, at the center of a team that included Thompson, Green, and Iguodala, but also Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins – proof that Curry could win with different supporting casts.
His individual accolades hardly need to be repeated:
2 NBA MVPs (including the only unanimous vote in NBA history)
1 Finals MVP
11 NBA All-Star nods
2 NBA scoring titles
The NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers made (by a massive margin)
He changed the game. He changed the Bay Area. He changed the very way basketball is played.
Why he’s No. 1: Four championships. Two MVPs. The greatest shooter ever. The face of a dynasty. The most important player in franchise history. And he’s still going.
The Golden State Warriors’ Mount Rushmore is a study in contrasts. Two modern icons (Curry and Barry) and two legends from the Philadelphia era (Chamberlain and Arizin).
Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – as beloved as they are – simply couldn’t displace the foundational greatness of Arizin or the transcendent talent of Chamberlain. Steve Kerr’s coaching brilliance is undeniable, but four seasons as a coach isn’t enough to crack a list built on playing careers.
The Warriors’ story spans eight decades, two coasts, and dozens of Hall of Fame players. But these four – Curry, Chamberlain, Barry, and Arizin – best represent the franchise’s journey from Philadelphia to San Francisco, from underdog to dynasty.
And at the top, standing alone, is Stephen Curry.
The greatest Warrior of all time. And still writing his legacy.