Thursday night is a big one for Warriors owner Joe Lacob, for many reasons.
After years of planning, the Warriors will play their first regular-season game at Chase Center in San Francisco to open the 2019-20 NBA campaign. And it could be a much different team than Lacob is used to seeing.
Golden State has reached five straight NBA Finals, but this season's squad is far from the league's favorite. That title could belong to who the Warriors will face in their season opener: The Los Angeles Clippers.
Lacob knows his team faces plenty of obstacles, with Klay Thompson unlikely to play this season as he rehabs from a torn ACL and this being a much younger roster, but the Warriors still have something the rest of the league doesn't: Steph Curry's All-Star presence and production.
"I think we have a team obviously a little in transition," Lacob told NBC Sports Bay Area's Greg Papa on "SportsNet Central: Warriors Edition" before the game. "Klay's not healthy yet, but we've got a lot of talent on this team. It's younger, it's gonna take a little bit to coach these guys and get them up to speed, but we've got a lot of talent.
"The last I looked, Steph Curry has been the best player in the NBA over the last five years. The best player in the NBA, OK."
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"Best player in the NBA over the last 5 years."
Lacob speaking facts about Steph 💯 pic.twitter.com/Zra9Aha8AZ— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 25, 2019
Facts are facts. Over the last five seasons, Curry has won three championships, been All-NBA and an All-Star every year and twice named MVP.
Even outside of Curry, Lacob had plenty of praise for this Warriors team.
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"D'Angelo Russell was an All-Star. Draymond Green is a tremendous -- he was an All-Star also. So, we got three great players," Lacob said. "Klay Thompson's coming back, there's some good rookies, we added a few people. ... I think we're gonna be pretty good. We're gonna have to see how it goes."
The first test is about to be in the books.
