Six marquee matchups by which to measure Warriors during 2025-26 NBA season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors believe the vast improvement they experienced after acquiring Jimmy Butler III was no mirage. That their 27-8 record with Stephen Curry and Butler in the lineup tells them they can play with the best of the NBA.
Yet most interested observers align with the oddsmakers, who remain unconvinced. They’re awaiting compelling evidence.
The Warriors can begin submitting that on opening night, when they play the first of six games that should provide a fair assessment of where they stand in the league and their postseason ceiling.
Here is a look at those games, and why they can dictate Golden State’s status in 2025-26:
Oct. 21 at Los Angeles Lakers
What better way to immediately turn heads than going on the road and beating the league’s most publicized team – and most publicized superstar?
The Warriors were 1-3 against the Lakers last season, but the losses came before both teams made major changes February. LA acquired Luka Dončić and Golden State added Butler. On April 3, with playoff positioning at stake, the Warriors made a statement with 123-116 win at Crypto.com Arena.
While Golden State’s roster is unfinished, LA this summer added starting center Deandre Ayton and defense-first guard Marcus Smart. Moreover, Dončić is in the best condition of his seven-year career.
No matter Golden State’s personnel on opening night, a loss to the Lakers would give LA an early edge in what will be a savage battle for playoff seeding in the Western Conference.
Nov. 11 at Oklahoma City
Classic battle of accomplished upstarts vs. experienced squad rich with ingenuity.
The defending champion Thunder are built for today, tomorrow and probably the next 30 years. The Warriors’ core – Draymond Green, Curry and Butler – is built for yesterday but determined to show it has what it takes to flourish against the league’s young bucks.
OKC is trying to become back-to-back champs, something not done since the 2018 Warriors. The Thunder, then, hope to go where Curry and Green have been. As deep and young and kinetic as this roster is, this challenge is the biggest they have known.
No better means of measurement than facing the NBA kings in the league’s most imposing building. A loss would not be catastrophic, but winning at OKC would make a statement huge enough to be discussed and dissected for several days.
Nov. 19 at Miami
Butler returns to the place where he validated his stardom before an ugly exit.
Jimmy’s departure from South Beach had the elements of high drama. Pat “The Godfather” Riley, Hall of Fame coach and one of the most astute executives in NBA history, calls out his franchise player in public. Franchise player barks back. Both are too proud to budge. Coach and team are stuck in the middle of a feud that simmers for months before Riley sends Butler to Golden State.
The trade was a form of salvation for both teams. The Heat, shedding a massive distraction, finally could exhale and focus on basketball. The Warriors, after treading water for almost four months, could sprout wings and fly.
The victor on this night, whether Butler or Riley, will grin his way out of Kaseya Center.
Dec. 25 vs. Dallas
With the return of Warriors legend Klay Thompson and the Bay Area initiation of teenage sensation Cooper Flagg, the NBA hands Dub Nation two gifts on Christmas Day at Chase Center. There’s an outside chance Kyrie Irving, rehabilitating from a torn ACL sustained in March, could be back.
The teams split four games last season, with 1-1 records on each side of the Dallas trade featuring Anthony Davis and Dončić and the Golden State deal featuring Andrew Wiggins and Butler. With Davis and Irving missing substantial portions of the second half of the season, the Mavericks tumbled out of play-in tournament position.
Though Dallas is rejuvenated by the lottery gift that is Flagg, Warriors-Mavericks shapes up as a clash of teams projected to struggle to rise above the play-in tournament.
Jan. 24 and 26 at Minnesota
Was Minnesota’s playoff sweep of the Steph-free Warriors a definitive statement of supremacy, or a simple matter of a severely diminished roster?
The Warriors went into the conference semifinals feeling good about themselves, based on their 3-1 record against the Timberwolves in the regular season. Their confidence was further boosted by their victory in Game 1 at Target Center.
When Curry missed the next four games with a strained left hamstring, the Wolves feasted, in the process making the Warriors look too small, too slow and vastly inferior.
Golden State will have had more than eight months to digest its abrupt postseason exit. Revenge can’t come until the second half of the season, two games over three days on the road. A sweep would be fantastic, a split acceptable. Getting swept would be a punch in the mouth.
Four more games that can tell a story
Oct. 23 vs. Nuggets (snapped nine-game losing streak to DEN in April), Oct. 28 vs. Clippers (went 0-4 against LAC last season), Nov. 26 vs. Rockets (Kevin Durant joins feisty squad), April 12 vs at Clippers (second consecutive season finale vs. LAC)
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