The Golden State Warriors have been around for a very long time, fielding teams since the very beginning of the NBA. In that time they have won seven championships, won 2,950 games and seen a lot of players wear a Warriors jersey, including some of the best to ever play the game.
Much of the time, those players have joined together to go after a common goal together. Sometimes, however, things have turned sour, and for whatever reason a player has worked against those goals -- be that by leaving, demanding a trade or making such a poor life decision that they hindered the Warriors on and off the court.
Let's take a stroll through Warriors history and look at 12 players who have "turned their back" on the team, starting with a recent addition to the list.
12. Nemanja Bjelica
We will kick things off with a player who committed the most mild infraction of anyone on this list. Nemanja Bjelica signed with the Warriors in the 2021 offseason and proved to be an essential player off the bench, a stretch-big to unlock lineup flexibility and space the court for the offense. He played 71 games that season and another 15 games during their postseason run to the 2022 NBA Finals, never the main event but often a needed piece off the bench. Given his full contributions all season, it's possible they don't win the championship without him.
While role players like Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II left that summer for significant offers elsewhere, the talk in the 2022 offseason was that Bjelica was expected to return to the team. He could not only fill his role from the season before but hopefully fill in some of the gaps for Porter's role as well. That changed quickly, and he ended up heading overseas to continue his career.
The Warriors were left scrambling somewhat to replace him, now without both their "stretch bigs" in Bjelica and Porter Jr. They signed journeyman big JaMychal Green, a player who was a poor fit for their system all season and couldn't step up in the postseason. Do the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2023 playoffs if they have Bjelica to play over JaMychal Green? Probably not, but it's an interesting question.
Let's ramp things up from here, looking at a disgruntled forward who forced his way off the team.