SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors raised a final toast to their 2021-22 championship season Tuesday night ahead of their regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.
With LeBron James in the building, the Warriors received their glitzy championship rings, a physical representation of the grit and grind that went into last season’s unlikely run back to the top of the league that ended with Golden State ousting the Boston Celtics in six games.
The day was a long time coming. Klay Thompson, finally healthy for the start of a regular season for the first time in three years, said he’d had trouble sleeping ahead of the big day.
“I’m going to keep it short and sweet, we love [our fans] with all our hearts,” Thompson told the sold-out crowd at Chase Center.
Thompson remembered the dog days of summer when he and James Wiseman were working out alone as part of their rehab process at Chase Center. He recalled the two looking up at the rafters and thinking, “Man, it could really use a banner.”
That banner, the first earned at Chase Center and seventh in franchise history, was unveiled Tuesday.
General manager Bob Myers thanked the fans for their support for sticking through them with the two down years. He also gave a shout out to owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber for their vision and helping them bring a championship back to San Francisco.
“It’s a long season but it ended well for us in 2022,” Myers said.
MVP chants broke out when Stephen Curry took the microphone. He called Tuesday a “special night” and said it was an “amazing honor” to celebrate his fourth banner ceremony with the fans. He also used his platform to bring awareness to WNBA star Brittney Griner, who’s been detained in a Russian prison for eight months. Tuesday was Griner’s 32nd birthday.
Players were met with vigorous cheers as the announcer introduced them one by one before commissioner Adam Silver, Guber and Lacob gave them their rings. Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole received the loudest roars.
Even Juan Toscano-Anderson, now with the Lakers, received some love despite now donning the opponent’s uniform. Toscano-Anderson told reporters earlier in the day that he paid five figures to get his mother courtside seats for the coronation.
“This is a moment I’m going to enjoy,” he said after the Lakers shootaround. “That’s my main focus is to soak it all in, cherish it, be receptive of everything that’s coming my way.”
For Curry, Thompson, Green and Andre Iguodala, this was their fourth banner ceremony. Looney, his third. But for a bulk of last year’s team, this is the first of what they hope to be many championship celebrations.
After Tuesday’s celebration, coach Steve Kerr is one ring shy of having championship jewelry on each finger on both hands.
“I’ve never had a bad ring night, I can tell you that,” Kerr said. “They are all awesome.”
