It doesn't feel like the NBA season truly gets going until Christmas Day. For the Golden State Warriors, that might be truer than ever in 2026-27.
The Warriors are slated to face off with the Denver Nuggets at Chase Center in the final matchup of the Christmas Day slate. With a team that doesn't inspire much confidence apart from Stephen Curry, it's a bit surprising that they were left on the slate at all.
The NBA’s Christmas Day schedule is headlined by LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers visiting Los Angeles to face the Luka Dončić-led Lakers and a Spurs-at-Knicks NBA Finals rematch.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 11, 2026
The full five-game slate: pic.twitter.com/jYVJCFSOQh
But Curry certainly still holds that level of league-wide pull. In every national TV matchup Golden State has in 2026-27, all eyes will be on Curry and his ability to keep this team afloat.
The early portions of the season, in many ways, will function purely as a waiting period for the Warriors. They'll be waiting for Jimmy Butler's return, and they'll be anxiously waiting to see what injuries the roster needs to endure this season.
Their matchup against Denver, therefore, will be their first real test of the season— even without Butler in the mix, can this team hang with one of the Western Conference's bona fide playoff contenders? Or will Christmas Day be a painful reminder of just how far off this team is from genuine contention?
The Warriors don't need to beat the Nuggets— but they need to prove the spotlight isn't too big for this current roster
Even after a disappointing, first-round defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves last season, Denver is still a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference.
Second-apron concerns may force them to lose a notable contributor in Peyton Watson. But they still thave heir orbital two-man combination in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, and any advancements from Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson in 2026-27 but launch them right back into the stratosphere of contenders.
They represent the perfect matchup for the Warriors at that point in the season. They're a bona fide playoff team, but they have enough vulnerabilities for the matchup to not be immediately lopsided. If Golden State were stuck facing the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs, it might be a different story.
If the Warriors are going to find any semblance of early-season success, Curry is going to need to drag the team onto his shoulders again. The Warriors' goal shouldn't be to hover near the top of the Western Conference by the time we reach Christmas. But they do need to stay afloat— and not dig themselves a deep hole in the standings— long enough for Butler to return sometime around mid-season.
If they can land in the Play-In Tournament with some momentum and a stretch of rest near the end of the regular season, that should be considered a successful campaign for this roster.
They don't need to beat Denver on Christmas Day. But they need to prove that they can at least hang with the Western Conference's playoff teams, and a primetime matchup against the Nuggets will provide an opportunity for them to put that on display.
If they enter that matchup near the bottom of the Western Conference and are blown out of the water without Butler, it will be hard to see a path forward for the Warriors.
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