1991–92 Golden State Warriors season

The 1991–92 Golden State Warriors season was the 46th season for the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association, and their 29th season in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[1] In the 1991 NBA draft, the Warriors selected power forward Chris Gatling out of Old Dominion University with the 16th overall pick, and also selected center Victor Alexander out of Iowa State University with the 17th overall pick.^[2][3][4]

On the first day of the regular season on November 1, 1991, the Run TMC trio was broken up when the Warriors traded star guard Mitch Richmond to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for rookie small forward, and first-round draft pick Billy Owens out of Syracuse University; Owens was drafted by the Kings as the third overall pick in the NBA draft.^[5][6][7] Owen's additional height at 6' 8" compared to Richmond's 6' 5" height was the size that head coach, and General Manager Don Nelson believed would complete the team;^[8][9][10] Nelson said he was "under pressure to get (the team) bigger" to improve the Warriors from a good team to a great one,^[11] and stated that he would "never make that trade again".^[11]

With the addition of Owens, the Warriors won nine of their first twelve games of the regular season, and later on held a 29–15 record at the All-Star break.^[12] The team won 11 of their 15 games in February, which included an eight-game winning streak, and won 11 of their final 15 games of the season. The Warriors finished in second place in the Pacific Division with a 55–27 record, which was the most wins in a season for the franchise since the 1975–76 season, and earned the third seed in the Western Conference.^[13] Nelson was named the NBA Coach of the Year, after leading the Warriors to an 11-game improvement over the previous season.^[14][15][16]

Chris Mullin averaged 25.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, while Tim Hardaway averaged 23.4 points, 10.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game, led the Warriors with 127 three-point field goals, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, and sixth man Šarūnas Marčiulionis contributed 18.9 points and 1.6 steals per game off the bench. In addition, Owens provided the team with 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, while Rod Higgins contributed 10.2 points per game off the bench, but only played just 25 games due to a wrist injury,^[17][18] second-year forward Tyrone Hill averaged 8.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, Mario Elie provided with 7.8 points per game, Alexander averaged 7.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, and Vincent Askew contributed 6.2 points per game.^[19]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida, Mullin and Hardaway were both selected for the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Western Conference All-Star team, while Nelson was selected to coach the Western Conference.^[20][21][22] Mullin also finished in sixth place in Most Valuable Player voting, with Hardaway finishing in eighth place,^[23] while Owens finished in third place in Rookie of the Year voting,^[24][23] and Marčiulionis finished in second place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, behind Detlef Schrempf of the Indiana Pacers, and also finished tied in eighth place in Most Improved Player voting.^[25][23]

In the Western Conference First Round of the 1992 NBA playoffs, the Warriors faced off against the 6th–seeded Seattle SuperSonics, a team that featured All-Star guard Ricky Pierce, sixth man Eddie Johnson, and Shawn Kemp. The Warriors lost Game 1 to the SuperSonics at home, 117–109 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, but managed to win Game 2 at home, 115–104 to even the series.^[26][27] However, the Warriors lost the next two games on the road, which included a Game 4 loss to the SuperSonics at the Seattle Center Coliseum, 119–116, thus losing the series in four games.^[28][29][30]

The Warriors finished 14th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 616,025 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena during the regular season.^[19][31] Following the season, Higgins signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings during the next season,^[32][33] and second-year guard Mario Elie signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.^[34][35]