Golden State Warriors: The final chapter of an unmatched dynasty

Time is running out at the Chase Center in San Francisco. The 2026–2027 season isn't just another season in the NBA; it could be the one that brings an end to one of the most dominant and successful dynasties in the league's history—one that transformed the way basketball is played and understood, reached five consecutive Finals, and claimed four Larry O'Brien trophies in eight years. We are, quite simply, witnessing the epilogue of the golden age of the Golden State Warriors.

The determining factor behind this outcome isn't just generational; it's also contractual. The structure that supported the Warriors' core is reaching its expiration date. Next summer, the two main pillars still holding up the franchise will both see their contracts expire simultaneously: Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

After failing to sign LeBron James—who has headed to the Philadelphia 76ers—, the Warriors offered Green an extension, which he accepted. About a month ago, the franchise and the player agreed not to renew his contract in order to free up salary cap space and sign the NBA's all-time leading scorer. However, with those plans derailed, Golden State re-signed a player who has been the defensive anchor for all these years.

Curry finds himself in the same situation. The man who forever changed the nature of the game with his outside shooting is entering the final year of his contract, last extended in 2024, when the Warriors made him the second-highest-paid player in NBA history. By June 2027, Curry—a two-time regular-season MVP—will be 39 years old and will have played 18 seasons in the NBA, all of them with the California franchise. He will go down in history as one of the greatest players of all time, but the passage of time imposes its own limits on everyone.

If it is confirmed that this is Curry and Green's final season, the Warriors will have lost all four players who were part of those four Larry O'Brien trophies in eight years, following the retirement of Andre Iguodala in 2023 and the departure of Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks in 2024. Only the mastermind will remain: Steve Kerr, Golden State's head coach since 2014.

Whatever happens at the end of this season, the legacy of the Bay Area dynasty is unassailable. The Warriors not only won championships but also rewrote the tactical playbook of modern basketball based on spacing, tempo, and an unprecedented volume of three-pointers. If this is, in fact, the final chapter, the NBA is preparing to bid farewell not only to a championship-winning roster, but to the team that redefined basketball forever.