As four-time NBA champions since 2015, there's no surprise that the Golden State Warriors have been fairly successful when it comes to player evaluation and getting the most out of their personnel.
There's very few players that have moved on from the Warriors in recent years and become drastically better with their new team. Someone like Kevin Durant has remained a superstar no doubt, but the peak of his career still came with Golden State where he won back-to-back Finals MVPs in 2017 and 2018.
For a range of various reasons, some players have moved on from the Golden State Warriors to play better with a different team/s
There's even fewer players who the Warriors would truly regret losing, but that doesn't mean there isn't some who've gone on and become more successful elsewhere around the league. Let's look at five players who took the floor for Golden State in the last 10 years, exited after a short period, and have since gone onto produce at a higher level:
1. Chris Boucher
Chris Boucher only just qualifies for this list, having played one solitary minute for the Warriors when he was on a two-way contract with the franchise during the 2017-18 season. The 6'9" big man was waived by Golden State shortly after their NBA Finals victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, but had his revenge as part of the Toronto Raptors team who defeated the Warriors in the Finals 12 months later.
Since then Boucher has remained a solid contributor to the Raptors organization, with his offensive skillset at times leaving Warrior fans frustrated that they gave up on the 31-year-old so soon. Much of that angst came in 2020-21 where Boucher averaged 13.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and shot 38.3% from three-point range, while he also earned votes in the Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player awards.
Boucher has been quieter over the past couple of seasons, with 2024-25 proving a crucial year given he's in the final of a three-year, $35.3 million contract. There's no doubt he's someone who Golden State should have invested a little more time into.