It may be time for Warriors fans to learn how to properly pronounce “Antetokounmpo,” because the biggest star on the NBA trade block could be headed to Golden State come Thursday afternoon’s NBA trade deadline.

When the Golden State Warriors’ new second-best player Jimmy Butler tore his ACL and was lost for the season two weeks ago, NBA pundits speculated that the Warriors dynasty was done for. Just days later, rumors swirled that coach Steve Kerr would resign or be fired at the end of the season, and it felt like a foregone conclusion that it was time to start shoveling dirt on the Steph Curry Warriors as we know them.  

But mega-bucks Warriors owner Joe Lacob is determined to wring the maximum chance of another championship out of this unit before Steph Curry retires, no matter what the cost. And so Lacob has directed the Warriors team brass to work the phones to make the most blockbuster trade possible. That sets the Warriors sights on the NBA’s biggest star on the trading block, ten-time All-Star and 2021 NBA Finals MVP and champion Giannis Antetokounmpo.

According to an ESPN report from just Monday morning, the Warriors are in the lead for the Giannis sweepstakes.

Of course, the reason the Warriors are in the lead is because they are willing to trade four (four!) first-round picks. So they are willing to mortgage the future to unite Giannis with Steph Curry, which would create a “Shaq and Kobe”-style combination that could certainly compete for the NBA title.

While we are not privy to these secret trade negotiations, the sense is that the Warriors would offer absolutely anyone on the roster not named Steph Curry in this trade. That could very easily cost the Warriors our beloved fan favorite Draymond Green, plus a few backup players, plus those four first-round picks.

But what’s this? The Warriors could get Draymond back right after this season is over, if Green were to exercise the $27.6 million option on his contract, a sum that no reasonable team (other than the Warriors) would pay him. Draymond's new Milwaukee Bucks team could then trade him, and boom, Draymond Green is available again.

Regardless, the NBA trade deadline is this Thursday, February 5 at 12 pm PT. And this will be a highly interesting week in Warriors-land.

Related: Warriors Star Jimmy Butler Tears ACL and Will Miss Rest of the Season, Pundits Speculate Warriors’ Dynasty Is Over [SFist]

Image: MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 13: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks and Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors talk after a game at Fiserv Forum on January 13, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

This could be the last dance for the Golden State Warriors with Steve Kerr as their coach, as the national media says some team members are thinking the unthinkable, that Kerr might be let go at the end of this NBA season.

We take for granted that the Golden State Warriors have one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history in Steve Kerr. Kerr’s Warriors have spoiled us with four NBA championships (three in his first four seasons as coach), and five consecutive NBA Finals appearances. And he’s the perfect Bay Area coach, as he stridently criticizes Donald Trump, routinely decries gun violence, and most importantly, expertly manages a difficult set of egos to keep the Dubs’ championship dynasty running smoothly.  

We should not take Steve Kerr for granted. In the wake of Monday night’s catastrophic season-ending injury to Jimmy Butler, and a league-wide sense that this means the end of the Warriors’ dynasty, NBC Bay Area reports on rumors that Kerr will either be fired or quit his job at the end of the NBA season in June. (Or earlier?)

The source of this information is a Wednesday article from sports site The Ringer entitled “The Grim Fallout of the Jimmy Butler Injury.” It’s an excellent, 1,400-word analytical piece that also covers whether the Warriors will now trade the injured Butler, how this affects Steph Curry’s future, and whatever he fuck is going on with Jonathan Kuminga. But at one point it briefly touches on Kerr, in words that sent shock waves through the NBA.

“Kerr’s future is still up in the air,” The Ringer reports. “This is the final year of his contract, and as of Wednesday, he has yet to sign a new deal. Though Kerr has publicly been mum about his future, multiple assistant coaches have been operating under the premise that he will not return next season, according to team sources, with some surveying the league to secure jobs next season.”

Okay, that’s just “multiple assistant coaches,” none of whom went on the record. Nor would they, this is an organization that does not like dirty laundry aired publicly.  

But it is true that Kerr is on the final year of his contract. Kerr has not made a stink about this, there simply seems to be a gentlemen’s agreement that they would see how the season goes, and negotiate afterwards. But no one anticipated that this season might go down the toilet, which it now might.

Kerr gets credit for building this Warriors dynasty, and deservedly so, but he did not really build the dynasty. These Warriors got good-good in 2013 and 2014 under previous coach Mark Jackson, once Steph Curry and Klay Thompson had been around for a few years.

But Kerr was the first coach to get these Warriors beyond the second round of the playoffs, and made them NBA Champions. Don’t assume it’s so easy to find someone else who can do that.

Related: Watch The Golden State Warriors' Coach Sink A Half-Court Shot [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 20: Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors reacts to the officiating on the court against the Toronto Raptors in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on January 20, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

The Warriors’ season crashed into disaster when forward Jimmy Butler suffered a season-ending ACL tear Monday night, and the national media are declaring the Warriors’ dynasty is over, while fans are madly concocting trade scenarios.

At first glance, Monday night’s 135-112 Golden State Warriors victory over the Miami Heat would sound like a nice mid-season win. But in reality, it was surely the Warriors’ most painful and heartbreaking loss of the season. CBS Sports reports that Warriors forward Jimmy Butler tore his ACL and is out for the rest of the season, robbing the Warriors of a key player whose acquisition in a trade last year rejuvenated the franchise, and gave fans hope that the Dubs could once again be title contenders this year.

The whole ugly situation can be seen above, and clearly Butler and his teammates knew right away he had just suffered a season-ending injury. Butler had been having a terrific season, averaging 20 points a game as Steph Curry’s best Number Two scoring option, and the Warriors had just won an impressive 12 of their last 16 games.

The Warriors acknowledged Tuesday afternoon that Butler is done for the year, and frankly, his entire career might be cooked. Butler is 36 years old, and this injury will likely cause him to miss at least half of next season too. Jimmy Butler may be finished as a significant NBA player.

Moreover, the crew on ESPN’s First Take Tuesday morning was quick to declare that the Warriors' dynasty is now over. The New York Times agrees, noting that “the loss of a proud star in his late 30s who is in the first year of a two-year, $112 million extension that he was given upon arrival when the Warriors traded for him last February — just might be their death knell."

But what matters is that the Warriors do not agree that the season is over. They have been committed to squeezing everything they can out of Steph Curry’s final years, to keep that dynasty window open. The team already seemed fully committed to trading Jonathan Kuminga (who has not played in more than a month, despite that he’s completely healthy), and Kuminga's offseason contract extension seemed to be designed specifically to trade him. Oh, and Kuminga and Steve Kerr appear to hate one another at the moment.

So fans are concocting crazy trade scenarios, and you know what? So are the Warriors. It is entirely possible they ship both Kuminga and Jimmy Butler out in the same deal, because it’s the NBA, and you can easily trade a guy who’ll be injured for the next 12 months as long as you take a shitty contract off the other team's hands. This CBS Sports trade scenario explainer identifies possible trade targets like the Dallas Mavericks’ Anthony Davis, the 76ers’ Paul George or Joel Embiid, and even the Lakers’ LeBron James. Each of these options would involve mortgaging the future and giving up top upcoming draft picks.

CBS Sports even entertained the Warriors could blow it all up now, and trade Steph Curry by the February 5 trade deadline. That seems wildly unlikely. But also in wildly unlikely scenarios, CBS Sports raised the possibility that the Warriors could in this situation trade for… our old friend Klay Thompson.

The rest of the Warriors' season may suck. But these next two-and-a-half weeks before the NBA trade deadline may be some very, very interesting times for Warriors fans.

Related: Steph Curry Talks Retirement Plans: Maybe PGA Tour, Maybe TV Analyst, Maybe NBA Team Ownership [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: Jimmy Butler III #10 of the Golden State Warriors is looked at by teammates and trainers after he collided with Davion Mitchell #45 of the Miami Heat and injured his knee during the third quarter at Chase Center on January 19, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Your Golden State Warriors tip off their 2025-26 NBA season tonight against the Lakers. And this year, they’ll likely have another Curry, as little brother Seth Curry is expected to join Steph Curry on this season’s Warriors roster.  

Yes it is already that time, as the Golden State Warriors return to action for the 2025-26 NBA season in a Tuesday night game against the LA Lakers. Tonight’s 7 pm game in LA’s stupid crypto-named arena will be aired live on NBC Bay Area’s KNTV-11, as the NBA returns to the NBC Network this season, and tonight’s Warriors game is the second game of a double-header.  (The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder play Kevin Durant’s Houston Rockets in the early game at 4 pm PT.)

If you do not have access to NBC Bay Area or Peacock, there will be another one of those free watch parties outside the Chase Center, as NBC Bay Area reports. People can start arriving as early as 5:30 pm.

Maybe the most notable change to this year’s Warriors team is that Steph Curry’s little brother Seth Curry was signed to join the team. Seth Curry is two-and-a-half years younger than Steph, and is an 11-year NBA veteran and journeyman who rarely lasts even a year with the same team. The Warriors actually cut Seth Curry this week, though it was purely a financial salary cap move. The Chronicle explains the Warriors intend to re-sign Seth Curry in a couple weeks when some complicated date structures regarding veteran minimum salaries come to pass.

Otherwise, there were no big free agent or draft additions to this year’s Warriors roster. That is largely because the Jonathan Kuminga contract negotiations paralyzed the team’s cap space that could have been used to pursue other trade targets. The biggest of those trade targets was Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, but maybe that would not have happened anyway, as Giannis seems to prefer he be traded to the New York Knicks. That situation is not resolved, and will be one of the league's biggest storylines of the season.

Though the Warriors did add veteran center Al Horford, who is 39. Like many of these Warriors, he is kind of old by NBA standards.

As for new last year’s big trade acquisition Jimmy Butler, he will likely play tonight, despite a lingering ankle injury. The Warriors went a sterling 22-5 with both Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler in the lineup last season, so that is a formula that works. And we’re excited to see what last year’s unlikely playoff hero Buddy Hield blossoms into this season.

Meanwhile, expect Draymond Green to do a lot more television appearances and such despite that he’s still going strong with the Warriors.

Can these Warriors win a championship? They are not expected to. The ESPN Bet lines (realize that ESPN is now neck-deep in the gambling racket) have the Warriors as the tenth most likely championship contender, well behind the defending champs Oklahoma City, the Denver Nuggets, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Heck, even the Orlando Magic currently have better odds than the Warriors.

But it’s a new season and you never know what can happen! There could be a huge blockbuster trade that no one sees coming. On the other hand, there could be injuries to the Warriors’ current “core three” of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler — all of whom are 35 years old or older.

Related: As Warriors Face Rockets, Houston Fans Urge Ted Cruz to Not Attend Games, Because They Always Lose When He’s There [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 23: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors drives towards the basket dribbling past Seth Curry #30 of the Charlotte Hornets in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on February 23, 2024 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

The strange career of early 2000s Golden State Warrior Gilbert Arenas has just taken an even stranger turn, as the man we called “Agent Zero” was taken into federal custody for allegedly running a big-bucks illegal poker operation.

If you’ve been a Golden State Warriors fan long enough that you remember when we were considered “long-suffering Warriors fans,” you might recall the three-year tenure of the extremely talented but maddeningly undisciplined Gilbert Arenas. Nicknamed “Agent Zero,” Arenas played for the Warriors from 2001-03 during the Thunder mascot era, and did not blossom into an All-Star player until he left for the Washington Wizards.

That all worked out great for him until he drew a loaded gun on one of his teammates in 2010 (in the team locker room, and on Christmas Eve). After serving his suspension for that, Arenas would not be a player of note in the NBA anymore.

Though now, strangely, the nickname Agent Zero turns up in federal indictment describing him as “Arenas, 43, aka ‘Agent Zero,’ of Woodland Hills." The AP reports that Arenas was arrested for operating an illegal high-stakes poker den out of his Encino mansion. Arenas is charged with conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, operating the illegal gambling business itself, and making false statements to federal investigators.

How is it illegal for grown men to play high-stakes poker? Well, there were other factors. These so-called “Pot Limit Omaha” poker games netted Arenas a fee, plus he charged for use of the mansion, all of which constituted undeclared income. He and the four alleged other co-conspirators hired security, cocktail servers, and the like, all of whom were allegedly paid under the table. Oh, and there were also women hired to provide “companionship” to the players (wink wink, nudge nudge).

“The women were charged a ‘tax’ – a percentage of their earnings from working the games,” the federal indictment states. “Chefs, valets, and armed security guards also were hired to staff these illegal poker games.”

It gets crazier. KTVU reports that one of the other alleged co-conspirators named is “a suspected high-level member of an Israeli transnational organization crime group.” That suspect, Yevgeni Gershman, is also accused of being in a sham marriage for citizenship fraud purposes.

Arenas has lawyered up, and his lawyer sounds about as professional as Arenas was as a player. “At this point in the case, he is presumed innocent, right?” that attorney Jerome Friedberg told the AP. “He has the same right as any other citizen to that presumption and that’s how he should be treated.”

TMZ reports that Arenas has been released on $50,000 bond, and posted a dance of himself leaving jail showing the trademark lack of humility for which Arenas is known. He has reportedly pleaded not guilty, though he and his alleged co-conspirators all face five years in prison on each of the counts if found guilty. Arenas’s trial is scheduled to begin on September 23.

Related: Men Behind Latest Sports Gambling Ballot Initiative Revealed to Be Crypto Guy, High-Stakes Poker Guy [SFist]

Image: Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas in Warriors uniform. Arenas, played 2 years with the Golden State Warriors before being traded to the Washington Wizards. Arenas had a breakout year in 2004-5, averaging, 25.5 points per game and being named to the 2005 Eastern Conference All-Star Team. His scoring average continues to rise and after 20 games in the current season he is averaging 27.8 points per game. (Photo by Evan Hurd/Corbis via Getty Images)

The 37-year-old Stephen Curry probably has a couple more years of basketball left in the tank, but just gave an interview about his potential retirement plans, and how he’ll still be a prominent figure in the sports world.

Your Golden State Warriors are now in what we refer to as the Cancun component of their season, when NBA players who’ve been eliminated from the playoffs go enjoy their expensive vacations. And last we saw of the Warriors’ franchise player Steph Curry, he was in street clothes on the bench with a strained hamstring as the Dubs lost to the Timberwolves in the playoffs.

But you can see Curry again this week, as he’s featured in the CNBC Sport documentary Curry Inc.: The Business of Stephen Curry, premiering this Wednesday, June 4, at 6 pm PT on CNBC. (And yes, there is now a thing called CNBC Sport). CNBC has published a few preview snippets from the show, and as they note, Curry is now the second highest-paid athlete in the world behind only Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Readers may be aware that Curry’s off-court business pursuits are handled by his umbrella company called ThirtyInk, which had a recent controversy over canceling its expansion into Dogpatch because of some squabble over union carpenters. Though Curry says he may go on to own or be a minority owner of an NBA team, as Michael Jordan did with the Charlotte Hornets.

"He might be the only one in our generation who has sat in that seat and done it that way," Curry told CNBC. "The idea of being a part of an ownership group and the right opportunity that allows me to have an impact on how a franchise should be operated — how you're going after true winning, like we've done here with the Warriors — that's something I'm excited about pursuing. It's interesting. Obviously, as an active player, you can't participate in that level until you're done. So you'll see me in the seat somewhere down the road."

That sounds like a definite statement, though Curry is far from being a billionaire, so its unlikely he would be buying a majority stake. A more visible career path might be on television. He told CNBC that he would "for sure" consider being a TV analyst, as Draymond Green often does with his occasional Inside the NBA appearances alongside Charles Barkley and Shaq. Curry just had a sitcom on Peacock that was recently canceled, and he also has a Sesame Street appearance under his belt.

It is well-known that Curry is a talented golfer, having won the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in 2023. He tells CNBC he’s considering joining the PGA Tour Champions league, a sort of retirement-age league for players 50 years old and older.

"That would be a fun goal to go after for sure," Curry said to the network. "It's an extremely challenging tour to crack if you're not one of the champion ex-PGA guys that are making that jump after you turn 50. So to do all the qualifying journey and all that — I'm pretty sure I'll try it. I've seen guys who are preparing themselves to do the same thing.

But all this future-looking aside, Curry remains under contract to play for the Warriors into 2027. And it may be a barn-burner offseason for the team. The rumor mill is churning speculation that the Warriors could trade for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in a blockbuster deal, though these Giannis trade rumors are mostly hype, and do not have much basis in fact at the moment.

Related: Steph Curry’s Company Abruptly Kills Off Plans to Build His Business Headquarters In Dogpatch [SFist]

Image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 22: Stephen Curry and Ayesha Curry attend TIME100 Impact Dinner: Leaders Shaping the Future of Philanthropy at ASPIRE at One World Observatory on May 22, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for TIME)

A melancholy ‘happy trails’ to Klay Thompson’s 13-year-old English bulldog Rocco, who has unfortunately gone on to that great splash puddle in the sky, though does so with a legacy of 61,800 Instagram followers.

You may think it’s silly for the public at large to care about the death of a prominent sports personality’s dog. But the loss of these dogs is often newsworthy. When ABC/ESPN college football announcer Kirk Herbstreit’s golden retriever Ben died from Leukemia this past November, it made national headlines, as fans of the sports personality do legitimately form bonds with these dogs that they have seen but never met.

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Sadly, the doggie reaper has visited these fans again, as the Chronicle reports that former Golden State Warriors fan favorite Klay Thompson’s dog Rocco has died. Rocco was an English bulldog whose dedicated Instagram account had 61,800 followers. He was 13 years old.

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We get the news from Thompson’s father Mychal Thompson, who if you don’t know, played 14 years in the NBA and won two championships. “We had to put Rocco, Klay’s dog, down over the weekend,” the elder Thompson said Wednesday on ESPN Los Angeles’ “Mason & Ireland” radio show. “We were all sad, but Rocco had a great, long life.”

Rocco did actually get to appear in an advertisement during his lifetime, the Bay Area BMW Centers ad seen above. It is a very stupid and formulaic ad. But Rocco steals the show with his orange cone-chewing antics.

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A post shared by Roccö (@rocco.thompson)

As the Bay Area News Group notes in their obituary for Klay Thompson’s dog, Rocco exceeded the usual lifespan of an English bulldog. These dogs usually only reach eight, maybe ten years old, because they do not have particularly healthy respiratory systems.

But like Rocco, the calm sense of joy that English bulldogs inspire has therapeutic benefits that are beyond description.

Related: Steph Curry Posts Emotional Instagram Story After Klay Thompson Departure Announcement [SFist]

Image: Golden State Warriors via Youtube

Not one but two Minnesota fans yelled racist remarks at Draymond Green during Thursday's game, one getting ejected and the other high-tailing it out of the arena when security came at him, adding more tension to this playoff series.  

Thursday night’s 117-93 Golden State Warriors playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves saw another incident wherein Draymond Green was called for a foul which he did not feel was an appropriate call, and he let the officials know it. This led to Green getting called for a technical foul, his fifth of the playoffs. As we learned the hard way with Green in 2016, a seventh technical foul in the playoffs automatically triggers a one-game suspension.

Yet there may be more to this story than we realize. KTVU reports that at least two racial epithets were hurled at Green by Minnesota fans over the course of Thursday's game.  In one case, a fan was ejected. In another case, the fan bolted for the exits upon realizing he was being eyeballed by security.

"The team is continuing to investigate, and additional action may be taken," the Timberwolves organization said in a statement. "The Timberwolves and Target Center are firmly committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for all. Racist, hateful, or threatening behavior has no place at our games or in our community and will not be tolerated under any circumstances."

Green did not mention this directly in his postgame remarks, which seem to be more about the technical foul. But you can’t deny the possibility that the racial taunts are a subtext to these comments.

"I’m tired of the agenda to make me look like the angry Black man," Green said in those remarks, after which he stormed off. "I’m a very successful, educated Black man with a great family, and I’m great at basketball and great at what I do. The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous."

This adds yet another element of emotion to a series that is already quite tense, and tied 1-1. Game 3 is Saturday at 5:30 at the Chase Center, with the broadcast on ABC.

Related: Draymond Green Is Partnering With Two East Bay Chefs to Open Caribbean-Ethiopian Restaurant In Lower Nob Hill [SFist]

Image: MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - MAY 06: Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors handles the ball against Rudy Gobert #27 of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first quarter of Game One of the Second Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center on May 06, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Warriors defeated the Timberwolves 99-88 to take a 1-0 series lead. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Little-known Warriors supporting cast member Buddy Hield improbably bloomed into the team’s top scorer, for one night at least, giving Golden State a comfortable Game 7 win that sends them surging into the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Things looked bad for your Golden State Warriors after their lackluster playoff loss to the Houston Rockets Friday night, forcing them into Sunday’s do-or-die Game 7, and bringing bank nightmares of a certain blown 3-1 series lead in 2016. And Steph Curry came out ice cold Sunday night, as the Bay Area News Group points out, Curry went completely scoreless in the whole first half until finally hitting one shot in the final minute before halftime.  

Yet here we are toasting a victory and a berth into the Western Conference Semifinals after what was still a 103-89 Game 7 win over the favored Houston Rockets, thanks to an out-of-the-blue blockbuster 33-point performance from the Warriors’ relatively obscure forward Buddy Hield.

The Chronicle anoints Hield “Game 7 Buddy,” a nod to the old Game 6 Klay of Warriors lore. You can see all nine of Hield’s three-pointers in the supermix above, including his desperation 42-foot longshot at the very end of the first quarter, which put the Warriors up 12 points, and just made you feel like this was definitely the Dubs’ night.

Hield was completely scoreless in Friday night’s drubbing, so we probably should not expect this out of him every night. But as the Warriors note below, Hield’s nine three-pointers tied the all-time record for a Game 7.

“I never wavered on starting Buddy,” coach Steve Kerr said in the Chronicle’s Scott Ostler writeup. “The lineup we started tonight has been by far our best five-man unit in this series, so I knew I was going to stay with Buddy.”

There was speculation that Kerr would start Jonathan Kuminga instead, but it seems coach made the right call with Hield. Kuminga played seven minutes Sunday night, and did not score a point.

You knew Curry would explode after his less-than-lackluster first half, and he did, eventually ringing up 22 points. And though the Rockets trimmed the lead to 63-60 in the third quarter, the Warriors dominated the fourth. Curry eventually settled matters with his own dagger three-pointer with just under three minutes to play, though it was one of Hield’s three-pointers a moment later that prompted Curry to bust out his “night-night” gesture to declare the game, and the series, as a resounding Warriors victory.

So now it is on to the Western Conference Semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who will have home court advantage. That means Tuesday’s Game 1 and Thursday’s Game 2 will both be in Minnesota. Though as NBC Bay Area reminds us, road playoff games mean there will be free watch parties outside the Chase Center both of those evenings, and certainly fans who went Sunday night were richly rewarded for doing so.

Related: As Warriors Face Rockets, Houston Fans Urge Ted Cruz to Not Attend Games, Because They Always Lose When He’s There [SFist]

Image: HOUSTON, TEXAS - MAY 04: Buddy Hield #7 of the Golden State Warriors reacts against the Houston Rockets after making a three-point basket during the fourth quarter in Game Seven of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on May 04, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

The Golden State Warriors may have a secret weapon in their upcoming playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets, as Texas teams tend to lose when Senator Ted Cruz attends games, and Houston fans are urging him to stay home to avoid the “Cruz curse.”  

It’s now NBA playoffs time of year, and your Golden State Warriors tip off their first-round matchup with the Houston Rockets on Sunday (6:30 pm, TNT). And despite the Rockets having a much better record, the oddsmakers favor the Warriors, maybe because of the Rockets’ youth and the Warriors’ playoff experience. Or they might be picking the Warriors because of an off-court issue, an issue that’s right off the court.

Texas sports fans have a superstition, that both their pro and college teams tend to lose when Texas senator and possible Zodiac Killer Ted Cruz shows up to root them on. And as SFGate reports, Houston fans are pleading with Cruz to not attend the Rockets’ games because of what they call “the Cruz curse.”

The most recent example of this came just last week, when the Houston Cougars lost the March Madness championship game with Cruz in attendance (a fan petition had begged him to not show up). This comes after Cruz’s presence coincided with the Texas Longhorns' loss to the Washington Huskies in the NCAA college football semi-final in 2024, the Houston Astros’ World Series loss later that same year, and a series of other losses with Ted Cruz in the house.

Don't worry about the refs when there's a bigger problem
byu/Brilliant_Mouse76 inrockets

SFGate reached out to the author of the Reddit post above. “He has every right to root for whoever he wants to, but his presence at stadiums or arenas has become problematic,” that author Jay Suayan told the site. “It’s not something where the Onion would put out like, ‘Ted Cruz caused this team to lose,’ but as the past decade or so has revealed, it’s taken on a life of its own.

One reason it's taken on a life of its own is that Cruz himself is so defensive about it, often taking to social media with blistering, unprofessional attacks on any media outlet that dare cover the Cruz curse.

And your Golden State Warriors have experience with this Cruz curse. In 2018, they beat the Rockets in a decisive Game 7 of a Western Conference Finals. Cruz was in attendance for that game.

Related: Ted Cruz's Tweets About Democrats Causing California's Blackouts Come Back to Haunt Him [SFist]

Image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 08: Ted Cruz is seen at the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships on September 08, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)

Despite some decent reviews, Steph Curry's first foray into live-action scripted television content is getting wiped off the slate at NBC and Peacock.

The mockumentary-style show, Mr. Throwback, stars Curry as himself in a fictional scenario in which his good friend and former grade-school basketball teammate Danny, played by Adam Pally, comes back into his life for selfish reasons — he's a down-on-his-luck sports memorabilia dealer and he wants some of Curry's game-used uniforms to sell to get out of debt. But the two find an unlikely friendship as adults, and the comedy gets some boosts from co-stars Ego Nwodim (SNL), who plays Curry's loyal assistant, and Ayden Mayeri (I Love That for You), playing Pally's ex-wife.

As The Hollywood Reporter is reporting today, Mr. Throwback is getting thrown back in the dustbin of TV obscurity after just six episodes in large part because it failed to capture much of an audience. The show debuted strong last August, just days before Curry played on the US men's basketball team at the Paris Olympics — which also aired on Peacock, and Curry even made a Mr. Throwback reference on air while at a game, with Adam Pally on the sidelines.

"NBCUniversal executives lost their minds over the moment of true corporate synergy," THR quips.

But the show failed to crack the Nielsen Streaming Top 10, and even putting the show on a broadcast network — it aired on NBC in September — didn't drum up enough interest, according to executives.

The show still enjoys an 86% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but THR itself gave it a middling review when it debuted, saying, it "ends up with the wrong percentage of taking-itself-seriously," and "never quite lives up to Curry’s charm or pedigree."

Curry's Unanimous Media has its mission to "develop, create, and distribute compelling family-, faith-, and sports-based content for all," and Mr. Throwback was their first attempt at live-action fiction content on the television side. Next February, coinciding with the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, Unanimous Media's feature-length, animated sports comedy film GOAT will be having its premiere, but details on that have yet to be shared. We do know that Tyree Dillihay, an Emmy-nominated director of Bob’s Burgers, is directing.

The company previously released an animated reboot of Good Times, last April on Netflix, and the documentary series Black Pop, in addition to the Apple TV+ documentary about Steph Curry, Underrated, and the Oscar-nominated documentary short, The Queen of Basketball, about the first woman ever drafted by the NBA, Lusia Harris.

Unanimous Media is one of multiple business entities that fall under Curry's Thirty Ink banner, and that company had plans to build a new headquarters in SF's Dogpatch which were abruptly called off this month in what may be part of a negotiation with a carpenters' union.

Previously: Steph Curry to Star In New NBC Sitcom 'Mr. Throwback'

Your Golden State Warriors are practically locked in a six-way tie in the playoff seeding with four games left, and could land in the playoffs with home court advantage through the conference semifinals, or could find themselves stuck in a Play-In Game.

After the Golden State Warriors’ 106-96 loss to the Houston Rockets Sunday, head coach Steve Kerr remarked to reporters after the game that “We ran into a hot team that played a great game, and you’ve got to just quickly move on. So I’m gonna go home and watch The White Lotus.”

Chronicle beat writer Ann Killion uses this as an analogy to stress that the Warriors' final four regular season games this week are “must-see TV,” but really, six different teams’ games will be must-see TV, as the Warriors could easily end up the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed, or a play-in hopeful as the conference’s No. 8 seed.

For maximum television drama, let’s let ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explain it. As we see, the Warriors started Sunday morning in the No. 5 seed in the West (they moved up to No. 4 briefly Sunday before the Houston loss). But because of the results between six teams almost-tied in the standings, they finished Sunday all the way down at No. 6.

And the Warriors currently have the same record as four other teams in the same playoff race, which makes the final four games of the season crucial — the Warriors could still theoretically end up as the No. 3 seed with guaranteed home-court advantage through the Western Conference Semifinals (possibly beyond if the chips fall right). Or they could end up in a Play-In Game, which did not end well for them last year.

Here are the Warriors’ final four regular season games between now and Sunday afternoon, and which ones will be on national TV (all others will be on NBC Sports Bay Area, if you have that).

• Tuesday, April 8: at Phoenix Suns, 7 pm (TNT)
• Wednesday, April 9: vs. San Antonio Spurs  
• Friday, April 11: at Portland Trail Blazers
• Sunday, April 13: vs. Los Angeles Clippers (Possibly on ESPN)

But you will want to watch NBA games every night through Friday, and also Sunday afternoon. The Chronicle has a great rundown of the remaining games for the Warriors’ competition in the standings, and those six teams’ wins or losses will be every bit as important as Warriors wins. Here’s the national TV schedule for the Warriors’ competition in the standings:

• Wednesday, April 9: LA Lakers at Dallas Mavericks, 4:30 pm (ESPN)
• Wednesday, April 9: Denver Nuggets at San Antonio Spurs, 7 pm (ESPN)
• Thursday, April 10: Minnesota Timberwolves at Memphis Grizzlies 6:30 pm (TNT)
• Sunday, April 13: Some matchup(s) on ABC/ESPN

ESPN and ABC are going to carry at least one of Sunday’s grand finale games, but they have not yet announced which game/games they will be carrying, and this will probably be determined by which games have the most riding on them. And we won’t know that answer until about 10 pm Friday night.

Related: Steph Curry Hits His 4,000th Career Three-Pointer, On the Eve of His 37th Birthday [SFist]

Image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 03: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors during the second half of a game at Crypto.com Arena on April 03, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Today is Steph Curry’s birthday, but his gift came Thursday night, as he became the only player ever in NBA history to hit 4,000 three-point shots, just piling up more numbers for the man who already holds the record for the most three-pointers ever.

Golden State Warriors point guard Wardell Stephen Curry is celebrating his 37th birthday today. Google his name today, and something fun happens on your screen. That fun thing happens because Steph Curry hit his 4,000th career three-point shot in last night’s 130-104 win over Sacramento at the Chase Center Thursday night, adding yet another distinction for the man who already holds the records for most three-pointers ever made, most playoff three-pointers, most three-pointers in a season, and of course, has won four NBA Championships and two league MVP awards.

The play on which the Chef scored his 4,000th three-pointer is seen above. (And how ‘bout that call by TNT announcer Kevin Harlan?) As the Chronicle points out, Curry scored the shot on a pass from Moses Moody, “who was 7 years old when Curry made his first NBA 3-pointer.”

Curry has already held the record for the most-ever three-pointers. He broke that record more than three years ago, and just continues to pile it on. And as seen below, he’s been doing this since he was a little kid.

"It's a clear milestone threshold," Curry told ESPN before the game. "A number that I didn't think about, that it was realistic even from 2,974, which is a number that means the most because that was the record at the time.”

"It's beyond my wildest dreams to push a record that far," he added.

The Chase Center played the tribute video seen above after Curry hit his historic three-point shot Thursday. It features the man who gave Curry the assist on his first-ever three-pointer in 2009… (sigh) Andris Biedrins. That name provides an important reminder of how the Warriors sucked for about 40 years in a row before Curry came along, and what a privilege it is that we get to watch this electrifying player make history on our team.

And with the Warriors surging since the Jimmy Butler trade, there may yet be more historic playoff magic in store from Steph Curry and your Golden State Warriors.  

Related: Steph Curry Leads Team USA to Insane 17-Point Comeback at Olympics [SFist]

Image:NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 04: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors celebrates after a three point shot in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 04, 2025 in New York City. The Golden State Warriors defeated the New York Knicks 114-102. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Warriors bad boy Draymond Green is getting into the restaurant game for the first time, and he's partnered with two well-known East Bay chefs to create a restaurant that celebrates "Black culture in San Francisco."

News arrived Monday, first via the Chronicle, that Green is helping to open Meski, a new restaurant fusing the cuisines of Ethiopia, Dominican Republic, and the Afro-Latino Caribbean, opening March 7. It's an offshoot, of sorts, of 33-year-old Meskie’s Ethiopia Restaurant in Berkeley, and it will be a collaboration between Meski's chef-owner Guma Fassil, and Nelson German, the Top Chef Season 18 contestant and owner of Sobre Mesa and alaMar Kitchen & Bar in Oakland.

While Green is a primary backer, Fassil will serve as managing partner, and German serve as executive chef-partner in charge of building the menus and kitchen team. The name Meski is a tribute to Fassil's mother, the longtime chef and founder of the Berkeley restaurant.

As Green and the chefs tell the paper, they had initially been hunting for space in Oakland, but they settled on the two-level former Members Only/Finders Keepers space at 1000 Larkin Street — also known, pre-pandemic, as The Saratoga, a high-end steakhouse.

Speaking of San Francisco, Green says, "We don’t have many footprints in the sand here when you talk about taking in Black culture," and he and the two partners say they want to create a fun, inviting, and relaxing vibe at Meski.

As German adds, speaking to the Chronicle, "The city is turning around and we want to be part of that trend and innovation — honoring foods that have been unrepresented for years, especially in San Francisco."

The ground-floor, upstairs area of Meski will be the main dining room and bar of the restaurant, while the downstairs will become a lounge with TV screens for showing sports. DJ's will set the tone, playing Afrobeat, amapiano, and R&B music.

The menu will feature dishes that mix the flavors of the Caribbean, and the Dominican cuisine of German's heritage, with the flavors of Ethiopia. German points to a Dominican steak encebollado, a stew his mother made, that is reminiscent of beef tibs, and will be served here with Ethiopian misir wot (spiced red lentils), and a Caribbean XO sauce.

A large-format T-bone steak will be coated in a berbere-coffee rub, and served with chile-glazed plantains and pigeon peas. Sambusas, Ethiopia's version of the samosa (and not unlike an empanada), will be served here filled with either lentils or berbere-spiced beef.

Drinks will also get Ethiopian-Caribbean twists, like an espresso martini made with Dominican spiced rum, Ethiopian coffee, espresso liqueur, and cinnamon-plantain syrup.

A remodel is already nearing completion — the SF Business Times picked up on the liquor license activity and new name of the place back in mid-December — and the team plans to open the first weekend in March.

Dinner will be served 5 pm to 11 pm, and until midnight on weekends, and brunch hours and a brunch menu will be announced at a later date. See their Instagram for updates.

Top image from the former Members Only

• Sheng Thao’s former chief of staff Renia Webb gave another interview saying she tried to blow the whistle about Thao’s alleged bribe-taking years ago, but argues that some Oakland city council members dismissed her concerns, and even told her she had mental health issues. Webb claims that she protested to Thao about the bribes, and says “That's when [Thao] told me, 'Oh, you're going to be making close to $200,000. Let's set up our families for life,' and I was like, 'No thank you.’” [NBC Bay Area]
• State Senator Scott Wiener introduced a new bill that would allow insurers and policyholders to sue Big Oil for climate change disasters. “Californians are paying a devastating price for the climate crisis, as escalating disasters destroy entire communities and drive insurance costs through the roof,” Wiener said in a statement introducing the bill. “By forcing the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis to pay their fair share, we can help stabilize our insurance market and make the victims of climate disasters whole.” [Chronicle]
• Your Golden State Warriors will be retiring Andre Iguodala’s No. 9 jersey, as he’s the first of the “Core Four” players to retire who was part of all four NBA championships of the recent modern era. The ceremony to retire his jersey will be before the Sunday, February 23 home game against the Dallas Mavericks, as Klay Thomspon will be there. [ESPN]

National:

• Google has bent over and grabbed their heels for Donald Trump again, agreeing to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” which is basically political correctness except to appease Trump, though the change will only be visible to US users. [CNN]    
• As we noted in our report today about Trump’s federal funding freeze, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s order, though the halt only remains in effect until this Monday, and we’ll see what happens then. [Associated Press]
• Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters announced he’s retiring, setting off a battle for his seat that could include former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and… former NFL coach Tony Dungy? [Axios]  

Video of the Day:

• Okay, this is six-and-a-half minutes long, but Caroline Kennedy read the letter she sent to senators about why they shouldn’t confirm her cousin RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, saying the job is “an enormous responsibility, and one that Bobby is unqualified to fill," plus adding, "It's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator." Oh, and she brought up his old drug addiction issues.

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 18: Andre Iguodala #9, Stephen Curry #30, Draymond Green #23, and Klay Thompson #11 of the Golden State Warriors pose with their championship rings in front of a championship banner during a ceremony prior to the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center on October 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)