1994–95 Golden State Warriors season

The 1994–95 Golden State Warriors season was the 49th season for the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association, and their 33rd season in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[1] During the off-season, the Warriors acquired Ricky Pierce, and rookie power forward, and top draft pick Carlos Rogers out of Tennessee State University from the Seattle SuperSonics.^[2][3][4] After having finished 50–32 the previous season, the Warriors made a number of deals to toughen the team in the middle by trading Billy Owens to the Miami Heat in exchange for Rony Seikaly.^[5][6][7]

Before the regular season even started, second-year star Chris Webber began the season by exercising his option to become a restricted free agent, claiming irreconcilable differences with head coach Don Nelson; he asked to be traded, and the Warriors obliged, sending him to the Washington Bullets in exchange for Tom Gugliotta,^[8][9][10] who would later on be traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for rookie small forward, and top draft pick Donyell Marshall from the University of Connecticut at mid-season.^[11][12][13]

With the return of All-Star guard Tim Hardaway, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, the Warriors won their first five games of the regular season, winning 8 of their 13 games in November. However, they soon fell apart and struggled losing 18 of their next 20 games, posting ten and eight-game losing streaks respectively, as Pierce, Seikaly and Chris Mullin all missed large parts of the season due to injuries. All of this led to the resignation of Nelson,^[14][15][16] after a 14–31 record at the All-Star break.^[17] Under his replacement, retired All-Star center and Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, the team finished in sixth place in the Pacific Division with a disappointing 26–56 record.^[18]

Latrell Sprewell averaged 20.6 points, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while Hardaway averaged 20.1 points, 9.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and led the Warriors with 168 three-point field goals, Mullin provided the team with 19.0 points, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in 25 games, and Marshall contributed 14.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in 32 games after the trade, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. In addition, Seikaly provided with 12.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in 36 games, while Pierce contributed 12.5 points per game off the bench in 27 games, and Chris Gatling provided with 13.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while shooting .633 in field-goal percentage. Meanwhile, Victor Alexander averaged 10.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, Rogers averaged 8.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in only just 49 games, Keith Jennings contributed 7.4 points and 4.7 assists per game, and top draft pick Clifford Rozier provided with 6.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.^[19]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, Sprewell was selected for the 1995 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team,^[20][21][22] while Rozier was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the White team. Before the mid-season trade, Marshall also participated in the Rookie Game as part of the White team, while playing for the Timberwolves.^[23][24] Gatling finished in eighth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting,^[25][26] and also finished tied in ninth place in Most Improved Player voting.^[27][26]

The Warriors finished 19th 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][28] Following the season, Pierce signed as a free agent with the Indiana Pacers,^[29] while Rogers and Alexander were both traded to the Toronto Raptors expansion team,^[30] Jennings was left unprotected in the 1995 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Raptors,^[31][32][33] and Lanier was fired as head coach.