Golden State Warriors 2023-2024 Schedule Preview
This morning, the NBA officially released the full season schedule for all teams, including the Golden State Warriors. While some marquee matchups were previewed already, here are some of the highlights.
Overall, the Warriors remain one of the NBA’s biggest draws, and will have 41 of their 82 games broadcaster on national television by either ESPN, ABC, TNT, or NBATV. The remaining ones will be available via NBA League Pass or locally televised by the Warriors’ flagship program, NBC Sports Bay Area. They’ll also once again lead the NBA in back-to-backs, with 15 total this season.
The first month of the season kicks off with the Warriors getting an opening night game against the Phoenix Suns, marking Kevin Durant’s first time playing at the Chase Center since his departure from the team after the 2019 season. After that is a three-game road trip starting with a playoff series rematch against the Sacramento Kings on their home court, where Stephen Curry dropped 50 to close out the series in Game 7. They’ll also look to keep their multi-season winning streak against the once-great-now-bottom-feeder Houston Rockets alive, including two players the Warriors were familiar with in playoffs past, with varying degrees of fortune: Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks.
November begins with the start of the In-Season Tournament, where the Dubs will travel to Oklahoma City in the first game of tournament group play. There will be three more In-Season Tournament group games, with the Warriors playing the Timberwolves and Spurs at home before once again visiting the Golden One Center in Sacramento. During this month, Golden State will also get their first crack at the defending champions, the Denver Nuggets, in Denver.
The highlight of December is, of course, the Christmas Day games. The Warriors will once again be participating in a marquee matchup, their second bout with the Nuggets. One interesting note is between the end of November and halfway through December, they’ll also have completed 3 of their 4 season matchups against their divisional opponents, the Los Angeles Clippers. Two will be played in Los Angeles, leaving them a home matchup later in the season.
There aren’t many major matchups to note in January, although there will be a 7-game homestand after Christmas which starts against the Miami Heat (last year’s NBA Finals loser and an always-entertaining opponent for the Dubs) and ends against the New Orleans Pelicans (an improved team who was missing their best player last season that should give a litmus test of where the team is at). Golden State will also be at home later in the month for their first playoff rematch against the Los Angeles Lakers.
February sees the final season matchup against the Clippers right before the All-Star Break, with the Warriors looking to once again field multiple all-stars alongside their perennial one in Steph. An improved roster should loan well to the team’s success, and Steph’s ability to elevate his teammates could see any number of Warriors making their way to Indianapolis. March will signal the beginning of the playoff push, a 7-game road trip bridging the end of the month and the beginning of April. Those 7 games include 4 in-conference opponents and all three NBA squads in Texas.
April is where the standings will heat up, as they usually do. Golden State’s last 8 will all be against conference opponents including the 3 from the March road trip. This is important to note, as the West predicts to once again be a tight race: Every game will count for potential tiebreakers, and some of those final games will be against a few potential playoff opponents in the Lakers, Pelicans, and Dallas Mavericks. Even one more loss or win could change seeding entirely, so the Warriors will have to be sure to remain sharp unless they’re in the lead by a mile.
The In-Season tournament will add some flair to a season which is shaping up to be, once again, one of the best to date. The retooled Warriors will have a legitimate shot at a title run this year, and will get plenty of reps against the teams they’re likely going to have to go through to get there. Some of the most interesting games will be against the mid-level Western Conference opponents and the lower-tier of Eastern Conference opponents, as those are the teams the Warriors will need to make sure they don’t throw games against like they did last season. 2023-2024 will be a true test of whether the championship window is still over, and they don’t even have to plant the flag at the mountain top: They just have to prove they’ve still got gas in the tank.
(Photo credit: Dusty Bradford / Getty Images)