For the first time since point guard Stephen Curry earned his first of 11 career All-Star Game nominations, the Golden State Warriors are underdogs in an NBA Playoff series.
Set to begin their showdown with the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday night at Target Center in Minneapolis, Curry, small forward Jimmy Butler, and the rest of the dynastic Warriors, fresh off a series win over the Houston Rockets, enter as +150 underdogs.
The moniker is the first such time the team was priced as expected to lose a series since 2014, when the Warriors fell in seven games as the 6th seed to the L.A. Clippers, then led by the Lob City duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
The Warriors are playoff series underdogs for the first time in more than 10 years 🤯
— br_betting (@br_betting) May 5, 2025
(via @bfawkes22) pic.twitter.com/ohRjvHoTob
“We got an incredibly tough Minnesota team waiting, so excited for the challenge," Curry told TNT after the squad’s 103-89 Game 7 win over the Rockets. "I know what Ant is, of course, Rudy with his 20-20 game. We haven't seen them in a long time, I just know they're gonna bring the best out of us. It's going to be a challenge, starting on the road again.”
The Warriors are the lowest-seeded team remaining in the playoffs as the Western Conference’s 7th seed but will meet a Timberwolves squad that managed their own upset over LeBron James and the L.A. Lakers in a five-game beatdown thanks to a massive series from superstar shooting guard Anthony Edwards.
How the Warriors got here
It’s been a long time coming for the Warriors, who were favored in all 27 series since their showdown with the Clippers.
Of course, it was the incredible duo of Curry and fellow sharpshooter Klay Thompson -- who earned the nickname "The Splash Brothers" for their electric shooting -- that helped launch the Warriors to new heights. Golden State enjoyed an NBA record 73-9 season in 2015-16, then added all-time great scorer Kevin Durant the following year.
The Warriors reached the Finals an NBA-leading six times between the 2014-15 season and 2021-22, winning four championships and cementing themselves as the greatest team of their generation.
As with all great dynasties, however, Father Time remains undefeated, as the pieces slowly started to move on. First, there was Durant, leaving for Brooklyn in 2019, and then more recently Klay Thompson departed for Dallas after 13 seasons as Curry’s lead running mate.
A midseason trade for small forward Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat did turn the Warriors' season around, officially relaunching them into championship contention. However in a hypercompetitive Western Conference, it’s no small task for Curry and crew to return to the NBA Finals once again, much less win.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t belief, just that there’s recognition this could indeed be, "The Last Dance."
"Not saying this is the last year, this run that we're going to have. Just focusing on what we can get out of it,” Curry told ESPN last Monday. "Me and [Green] have been through every battle for the last 13 years. Obviously, we are trying to recreate that magic."
