One of the disturbing realities of being such a bad team for so long is that rivalries don’t really get a chance to brew.
The Warriors now find themselves among the premier teams of the NBA, but it’s a fairly recent phenomenon.
For years, the Warriors weren’t just bad, but perhaps even worse in terms of labels that could be bestowed: irrelevant.
During their stretch of ineptitude, they didn’t even garner the majority of attention for being comically awful.
That distinction went to the Los Angeles Clippers, who not only had the bright lights of L.A. to further illuminate their plight for all to see, but the contrast of Lakers teams winning championships made their situation even more laughable.
If you’re going to be bad, you might as well be notorious for it, and the Warriors couldn’t even parlay their failures to get mentioned among the likes of the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Clippers, or any other professional sports franchise unable to right the ship after years of steering off course. It’s almost as if people forgot they even existed.
During the midst of their struggles, several “rivalries” tried to inorganically get cobbled together. Sports utilizes the “us versus them” mentality to the extent that without rivalries, it’s hard to really formulate a team identity.
The Northern California rivalry was shoved down people’s throats between the Warriors and Kings, but it never gained much traction.
In the early 2000s, the Kings were going deep in the playoffs, and the idea that they’d even humor the Warriors to acknowledge a “rivalry” with a team that could barely crack 30 wins just seemed absurd.
Maybe if both teams found an equilibrium, their contests would suddenly become must-see TV. Eventually they did even out, but the Kings decided to stoop to the Warriors’ level instead of the other way around.
Yes the games became more competitive, but what was on the line? Northern California supremacy?
A hard-fought showdown for sole possession of 11th place in the Western Conference in the middle of February doesn’t provide the fuel to keep a rivalry viable.
Now that the Warriors are good, the Kings remain a largely dysfunctional franchise that those within the basketball community are beginning to chastise for possessing a generational talent like DeMarcus Cousins without much of a plan as to how to use him.
Then there was the NorCal-SoCal “rivalry” between the Warriors and Lakers. That one was even more sad.
It’s like the Warriors were trying to soak in whatever glamour the Lakers exuded for a false sense of importance, meanwhile the score of the game actually being played was like 83-62 midway through the 4th quarter.
It’s funny that the Warriors and Clippers are now Western Conference contenders while the Lakers and Kings can only window shop in front of the playoff picture for the time being.
Rivalries are a privilege, not a right. They can only thrive when both teams involved are talented enough to be playing in meaningful games with each other.
That’s the biggest distinction. Two teams can hate each other all they want, but if they’re both 15 games under .500, what’s on the line? Pride?
That only applies to the relatively small core fan bases between the two. Rivalries have to be validated by non-fans of the teams.
Warriors fans in the 1980s acknowledged the Lakers-Celtics rivalry, just like Clippers fans in the 1990s understood that a Knicks-Pacers rivalry was occurring.
Playoff meetings are really the common denominator with these, which is why the Warriors can safely consider the Cavaliers a rival at this point.
Hatred also helps, but I’m not sure if the Warriors hate the Cavaliers as much as the Clippers or the Thunder.
The Warriors lost to the Clippers in a playoff series just a couple years ago, Doc Rivers implied that the Warriors were lucky to win the championship back in 2015, and each meeting brings a high risk of a fight breaking out on the court.
That’s the foundation of a rivalry, and each team perennially earning more than 50 wins cements it as one.
The Thunder are also ready to be added to that group of Warriors’ rivals. There’s so many storylines that affirm this.
Even before Kevin Durant left, there was going to be a lot of animosity between these two squads for the foreseeable future.
It’s embarrassing to blow a 3-1 series lead, and the Thunder were going to have a large chip on their shoulder about that. They undoubtedly thought they were the better team, but couldn’t seal the deal.
Of course, there was the whole Draymond Green situation with Steven Adams, who actually gave a really funny interview recently about the groin ordeal.
If Thunder fans were collectively asked which player they hate more right now between Durant and Green, it’d probably end up being pretty close.
That’s two players out of the main Warriors’ core that those fans absolutely loathe, and Stephen Curry also stirs up some negative emotions, too.
Russell Westbrook is on a mission right now. Not only is he angry regarding the context of Durant’s departure, but judging from his comments (or laughter) in the WCF about Curry’s defense, he considers himself the more complete point guard.
Those games are going to be filled with rancor, and the Warriors should be glad that after so many years of irrelevance, they’re finally powerful enough to have actual rivalries, and not just fake rivalries. Real rivalries that actually carry weight.