Many NBA contenders were built through trade or free agency, trading for a centerpiece star or clearing the way to sign them in free agency. Every NBA champion certainly used those tools to build their team. The best contenders, however, the dynasties that manage to sustain success over many seasons, are generally built through the draft.
From the Michael-Jordan Chicago Bulls to the Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs this has proven true. The Golden State Warriors and their modern dynasty are no exception, as Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were all drafted by the team. Their closest counterpart in the East has to be the Boston Celtics, who drafted Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as the cornerstones of a long-term contender.
Golden State Warriors all-time draft bust starting 5
For as much as the Warriors found success through the NBA Draft, they have also found heartache and disappointment. Their history is littered through draft busts, players drafted highly who failed to meet expectations. Often times that disappointment comes with bitterness when a player they passed on explodes into stardom and there's languishes at the end of the roster.
Listing all of the Warriors' busts over the years would be an impossible task; they spent whole decades in mediocrity, unable to find the right players to elevate them out of the mire. Instead, we're going to build a starting five of their all-time draft busts, finding a player at each position who best fits the bill. We'll skew slightly toward the present with our choices, but we'll make one foray into the 1960s.
We start at point guard, where the Warriors missed on a chance to add another player to their young core as it was just starting to grow up.