Draymond Green doesn’t hesitate when he hears the question. Looking back on the Golden State Warriors’ 2015-16 season a decade later, a simple thought pops into the now 36-year-old forward’s mind.
“It’s pretty easy,” Green told The Athletic. “We beat the s— outta everybody.”
Monday marks the 10th anniversary of the night Green and the Warriors dominated the Memphis Grizzlies in the regular-season finale to secure their 73rd win. That mark still stands, and many within the organization believe it always will.
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“Earlier this season, I thought OKC had a real shot,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told The Athletic. “And you just see how difficult it is. One of the reasons it may never be broken is the pace and the space of the modern game. It’s changed things so much, the wear and tear on everybody. The health of the players, we monitor the players much better than we did back then. Guys are playing longer careers, but shorter seasons because we’re making sure we hold them out in case they’ve got injuries. There’s a lot that goes into it, but I just don’t see anybody ever going 74-8. I just don’t know how it would be possible.”
As Kerr, Green and Warriors star guard Stephen Curry reflect a decade later, the emotions are mixed. They were such a dominant team throughout the regular season, but it didn’t end with a title. The Warriors fell short after LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win a memorable Game 7 at Oracle Arena.
“I think just what an incredible accomplishment it was,” Kerr said. “But because we didn’t win the title, we’ll probably forever remain underappreciated.”
What’s obvious about that 73rd win is just how dominant Curry was in the moment. He won his second unanimous MVP that season and punctuated his campaign with 46 points in 30 minutes against the Grizzlies on April 13, 2016. And yet, as he looks back, he admits that clinching the 73rd win that night was not what was top of mind.
“I was kinda mad,” Curry told The Athletic. “Because I wanted to watch Kobe’s last game. We knew what was at stake, but I wanted to watch … I really wanted to watch Kob’s last game. Then, when I got out, I heard what happened on the other side. I was like, “Oh my goodness. He scored 60? So I was excited, but also as a basketball fan, I felt like I got jipped at the same time. A great experience, though, for sure.”
The matchup.
The stars involved.
The stakes.
The drama.
The history on the line.And then… what a shot from Curry.
GSW vs. OKC, 10 years ago today… one of the greatest games in NBA history! pic.twitter.com/la3Wsjlcia
— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2026
On the same night that Bryant was scoring 60 points in his retirement game, Curry hit his 400th 3-pointer, finishing with 402, another record that still stands.
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“It was great for Steph Curry to break 400 3s,” Green said. “It was great for Kobe Bryant to get 60 points. It was fire.”
The Warriors, who won their first title of the Curry era the year before, rolled past the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trail Blazers in the first two rounds before being on the verge of elimination against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. Klay Thompson’s iconic performance in Game 6 of that series — 41 points and 11 3s — allowed the Warriors to go back to Oracle, where they closed out the series and advanced to a second-straight finals.
Their Game 7 loss to Cleveland also changed the course of league history. Not only did it give James his first championship in Cleveland — it opened up the door for Durant to join the Warriors as a free agent later that summer. The move shifted the balance of power in the league and led to two more championships and three more Finals appearances, forming one of the most dominant trios ever with Durant alongside Curry and Thompson.
“It’s funny,” Kerr said. “I get people who say now in hindsight do you wish you had not gone for (the regular-season record) because maybe the playoff run would have been different? The answer’s no. There was no way I was telling any of those guys they weren’t playing. But more importantly, I don’t think winning 73 had anything to do with us losing in the playoffs. I think we played two great teams with Oklahoma City and Cleveland. There’s no shame in going to Game 7 of the NBA Finals after winning 73 games. In fact, it’s an incredible accomplishment. But what Cleveland did coming back was a phenomenal feat in its own right. So you tip your cap to them.”
There remains some lingering frustration that the Warriors weren’t able to close out the Cavs and cement their place in history as the greatest team of all time, surpassing Michael Jordan’s 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who went 72-10. But those closest to the group also recognize the rarity of what they accomplished.
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“There’s nothing really to reconcile,” Kerr said. “It’s just you look back at it, there’s some remorse, regret, but it’s all part of sports. It’s all part of all of us. You could also say we don’t get Kevin Durant if we win that series. And I think that’s probably accurate. So it played out how it played out. It’s an incredible team, and it capped an incredible two-year run for that team.”
Green, who was famously suspended for Game 5 of the finals after kicking James below the belt the game before, echoed a similar sentiment.
“There’s an appreciation,” Green said. “Because although we didn’t win a championship, we continued to kill everybody … But that was kinda right in the middle, or maybe just the beginning. There’s an appreciation because it continued to just run on.”
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To Green’s point, the end of the 2015-16 season wasn’t the finish line, but a new beginning. Durant signed and immediately delivered two NBA Finals MVPs over his next two seasons. There will always be an appreciation for what the Warriors did in his three years, but many Warriors personnel reflect on those first two years of their reign atop the NBA with a sense of pride given that they started a historic run in the league that few ever thought would happen.
“Obviously, getting Kevin meant costing us Harrison (Barnes) and (Andrew Bogut),” Kerr said. “So the team shifted quite a bit at that point. But those two years in my mind were basketball nirvana. Just an incredible group to coach.”
Does Green think that Durant ultimately signs with the Warriors if they had won their second-straight title that season?
“It’s a great hypothetical,” Green said. “Who knows? Maybe. But what’s for certain is we continued to beat the s– outta everybody.”
Kerr has his own take on the situation, but doesn’t dwell on it.
“My guess is that he wouldn’t have come,” Kerr said. “But you’d have to ask him, who knows? All these hypotheticals, you can play this game for every team, every championship team, every team that loses in the finals. There’s all these what-ifs. And what-ifs dot the history of sports. If you’re involved with it you really don’t spend a lot of time trying to answer what-if, you just acknowledge the what-if and you move forward.”
Green said he has never asked Durant that question.
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“Nope,” Green said. “Because it’s irrelevant. We continued to beat the s— out of everybody with Kev, so nope.”
Eventually after some internal debate, the Warriors chose to honor their 73-win season with a banner at their facility, listing every player’s name from that team.
“(General manager) Bob (Myers) and I felt very strongly that it belonged up there,” Kerr said. “My guess is that Draymond would probably tell you that it shouldn’t be up there, but for one of the only times ever, we won over Draymond, I guess.”
Kerr laughs now at the memory, but remains steadfast in the honor of what the group accomplished.
“I don’t even know if that’s true,” Kerr said. “He might actually say it does belong up there, I’m guessing, but you have to acknowledge that. It’s such an amazing accomplishment. One that will probably never be beaten … those guys on that banner deserve to be honored for life.”