Golden State Warriors: Ranking the Best Players by Position in Team History

The Golden State Warriors are one of three teams that remain from the launch of the Basketball Association of America in 1946-47, the league that emerged as what we know today as the NBA, along with the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.

The Warriors, then in Philadelphia, were the first champions of the BAA, winning the title in 1947 by beating the Chicago Stags in the Finals in six games. Philadelphia added another title in 1956, the year before the Celtics added Bill Russell and dominated the league for the next decade-plus.

Eddie Gottlieb was the franchise’s first coach and general manager and purchased the team from original owner Pete Tyrell for $25,000 in 1952 and hired George Senesky to replace him on the bench prior to the Warriors’ championship season in 1955-56.

Following the 1961-62 season, Gottlieb sold the team to the Bay Area Credit Card company and the franchise was uprooted to San Francisco to become the second NBA team to play on the West Coast, joining the Los Angeles Lakers, who moved from Minneapolis in 1960.

The team played as the San Francisco Warriors, playing most of its home games at the Cow Palace, for nine seasons. In 1971, the team moved across the bay to the Oakland Coliseum and changed its name to what it is today, the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors’ lone title since moving west came under coach Al Attles in 1974-75, when the Warriors stunned the 60-win Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep in the NBA Finals.

The Philadelphia Warriors also reached the Finals in 1947-48, losing to the Baltimore Bullets, and the San Francisco Warriors were twice losers in the NBA Finals at the hands of the Celtic dynasty in 1963-64 and again in 1966-67.

In 67 seasons, however, the Warriors have only qualified for the playoffs 29 times and returned to the postseason in 2012-13 after a five-year absence. Golden State missed the playoffs for 12 straight seasons from 1994-95 to 2005-06 and had a nine-year playoff drought from 1977-78 to 1985-86.

The longest streak of consecutive playoff appearances for the franchise is six, in the team’s first six seasons in Philadelphia from 1946-47 through 1951-52, and the last time the team advanced beyond the second round was when the Warriors were upset by the Phoenix Suns in the 1976 Western Conference Finals.

So who are the best players by position in the history of the Golden State Warriors franchise?

NOTE: Players must have appeared in 250 regular-season games with the franchise to be considered for this list.

Small Forward: Paul Arizin (1950-52, 1954-62)

Paul Arizin was an All-Star in all 10 of his seasons with the Philadelphia Warriors. (Wikimedia Commons photo)

Paul Arizin was a territorial draft selection of the Warriors in 1950 after a standout collegiate career at Villanova. In the early days of the NBA, teams could surrender a first-round pick to take a local player as a territorial selection and Arizin worked out extremely well for Philadelphia.

Arizin led the league in scoring in 1951-52, averaging 25.4 points per game, but missed two seasons—1952-53 and 1953-54—after being drafted into the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He came back and didn’t miss a beat and went on to win a second scoring title in 1956-57, averaging 25.6 points per game. Arizin was one of the early pioneers of the jump shot and he mastered it, leading the NBA in field-goal percentage with a 44.8 percent mark in 1951-52.

Arizin was an All-Star in each of his 10 seasons with the Warriors and averaged 28.9 points per game in the 1956 playoffs while leading the Warriors to their last title in Philadelphia. He was a four-time All-NBA selection, three times named to the first team, and was the MVP of the 1952 All-Star Game. A very consistent player, the only season Arizin failed to average at least 20 points per game was his rookie season in 1950-51, when he averaged 17.2 points.

Nicknamed “Pitchin’ Paul” for his long-range shooting, Arizin is third in team history with 16,266 points and is also fourth with his 22.8 points per game average and 713 games, fifth with 6,129 rebounds and his 19.7 player efficiency rating is sixth.

Here are some highlights of Arizin’s career:

Arizin opted to retire after the 1961-62 season rather than accompany the Warriors to San Francisco. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978 and died in December 2006 at the age of 78.

Apologies to: Rick Barry, Chris Mullin, Purvis Short, Rod Higgins.

Power Forward: Larry Smith (1980-89)

(1981 Topps basketball card from author’s personal collection)

Larry Smith was the Warriors’ second-round pick in the 1980 draft out of Alcorn State and he didn’t disappoint, turning into one of the premier rebounders in the league during his nine seasons with Golden State.

Smith was a member of the 1980-81 All-Rookie first team and led the NBA in offensive rebounds in 1985-86 with 384. Three times he led the league in offensive rebounding percentage and twice had the NBA’s best total rebound percentage. Smith was never much of an offensive threat, but what he took, he most often made, hitting 53.9 percent of his shots in his career.

Smith is third on the franchise’s rebounding list with 6,440 and is also fifth with his 53.9 field-goal percentage, seventh with 10.4 rebounds per game, eighth with 617 games and 10th with 384 blocked shots. His offensive rebounding percentage of 15.8 percent is the highest in team history.

Smith also is the club single-season record-holder with 433 offensive rebounds in 1980-81, his rookie season, and his 18.3 offensive rebound percentage that season is also a franchise record.

Here are some of Smith’s highlights from his Warrior career:

Smith left the Warriors to sign with the Houston Rockets as a free agent in July 1989.

Apologies to: Joe Fulks, Tom Meschery, Troy Murphy, Chris Gatling.

Wilt Chamberlain (13) put up some of the most dazzling statistical figures in NBA history during his five full seasons with the Warriors in Philadelphia and San Francisco. (Flickr.com/Kip-koech)

Center: Wilt Chamberlain (1959-65)

Perhaps the best territorial draft pick in NBA history, the Warriors used their territorial selection in 1959 to take Wilt Chamberlain, who had played at Kansas and for the Harlem Globetrotters. So how was a guy who played at Kansas a territorial pick in Philadelphia? He was a Philadelphia native and a graduate of Overbrook High School in Philly, that’s how.

Although he only played five full seasons for the Warriors, four in Philadelphia and one in San Francisco, what he did in those five seasons was remarkable. He led the NBA in scoring in each of those five seasons and was the league’s top rebounder in each of his first four years in the league. He recorded the only 4,000-point season in NBA history in 1961-62 when he averaged an otherworldly 50.4 points per game.

Chamberlain was both MVP and Rookie of the Year in 1959-60, one of only two players (Wes Unseld in 1968-69 was the other) to achieve that double. He was a six-time All-Star as a Warrior and was named All-NBA in all five of his full seasons with the team, including four times named to the first team. Chamberlain also led the NBA in field goal percentage twice while with the Warriors.

He is the franchise’s all-time leader with 17,783 points, his 41.5 points per game and his 25.1 rebounds per game and is also second with 10,768 rebounds. His player efficiency rating of 30.2 is the best in franchise history, as well.

He holds Warriors’ single-season records with 2,149 rebounds and 27.2 rebounds per game in 1960-61 and 4,029 points and 50.4 points per game in 1961-62. His 31.8 PER in 1962-63 is also a franchise record.

Here is one of Chamberlain’s best games as a Warrior, a 27-point, 38-rebound performance against the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the 1964 NBA Finals:

Chamberlain was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in January 1965 for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979 and died in October 1999 at the age of 63.

Apologies to: Neil Johnston, Nate Thurmond, Clifford Ray, Andris Biedrins.

Shooting Guard: Jeff Mullins (1966-76)

(1971 Topps basketball card from author’s personal collection)

The San Francisco Warriors weren’t sure what they were getting in September 1966 when they shipped Guy Rodgers to the expansion Chicago Bulls for Jeff Mullins and Jim King. Mullins had been the fifth overall pick in the 1964 draft by the St. Louis Hawks after a standout career at Duke, but the Hawks left Mullins exposed to the expansion draft after two underwhelming seasons.

What they got was a guy who was a three-time All-Star and a franchise stalwart for a decade. Mullins averaged at least 20 points a game for four straight seasons (1968-69 through 1971-72) and was a key reserve late in his career when the Warriors won the NBA title in 1974-75.

Mullins is sixth on the franchise’s all-time list with 12,547 points and is also third with 716 games and fifth with 2,913 assists.

Here are some of Mullins’ career highlights with the Warriors:

Mullins retired after the 1975-76 season.

Apologies to: Tom Gola, Phil Smith, Latrell Sprewell, Jason Richardson.

Point Guard: Tim Hardaway (1989-96)

Some eyebrows were raised when the Golden State Warriors took pint-sized point guard Tim Hardaway with the 14th overall pick out of UTEP in the 1989 NBA Draft. But Hardaway went on to raise eyebrows with his play for the Warriors, teaming with Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin to form the potent TMC combo in the early 1990s.

Hardaway was a three-time All-Star for the Warriors and was named to two All-NBA teams for Golden State.

Hardaway is the franchise’s all-time leader with 9.3 assists per game and is also second with 3,926 assists; third with 602 3-pointers, 821 steals and 1.9 steals per game; and 10th with 8.337 points. His assist percentage of 37.3 is also the highest in team history.

Here are some of Hardaway’s highlights from his time in Golden State:

Hardaway was traded with Chris Gatling in February 1996 to the Miami Heat for Bimbo Coles and Kevin Willis. He retired after the 2002-03 season.

Apologies to: Al Attles, Sleepy Floyd, Guy Rodgers, Stephen Curry.