Warriors have a small window to avoid the play-in tournament

Do they have what it takes to get out of the play-in bracket?

The Golden State Warriors aren’t just trying to avoid the play-in tournament—they’re running from it like it owed Draymond Green an apology. And for good reason.

Looking at the standings, the Dubs sit locked in a three-way tie at 47-33 with the Grizzlies and Timberwolves for spots 6-8 in the West, all trying to avoid the NBA’s answer to purgatory. All while the Thunder cruise along at 66-14, building a cushion so comfortable you’d think it was sponsored by La-Z-Boy.

The Warriors’ play-in resume now reads like a Stephen King novel: 0-3 with each loss more excruciating than the last. First came LeBron’s miracle three over Steph in 2021 that sent the Warriors to face Memphis. Then Ja Morant and company delivered the overtime knockout blow to end their season. And now, completing the unholy trinity, the Sacramento Kings just ran them off the floor 118-94 in a game that wasn’t even that close.

The sight of Kings fans chanting “Light the Beam!” while eliminating their Northern California rivals has to rank somewhere between fingernails on a chalkboard and dental surgery without anesthesia for Warriors fans.

For the uninitiated, the play-in tournament is the NBA’s version of “Saw” – teams forced into a series of high-stakes elimination games just to earn the right to get demolished by a rested 1 or 2 seed. It’s like climbing Mount Everest only to discover the prize is getting pushed off a taller mountain.

For the Warriors, the sixth seed represents salvation. Teams 1-6 advance directly to the traditional playoff format, while seeds 7-10 enter basketball purgatory. Think of it as the difference between flying first class and being stuffed in the overhead compartment.

These play-in disasters are more than just losses. They’re existential threats to the dynasty’s final chapter. For Stephen Curry at 37 years old (though still delivering MVP-caliber performances), every game is precious. Wasting energy on play-in Russian roulette isn’t part of the championship blueprint.

The Warriors’ final two games—against Portland tonight and the surging Clippers on Sunday—now loom large. The various seeding scenarios looks like it was written by a NASA engineer on an espresso binge, with the Warriors needing specific combinations of wins and losses just to secure different seeds.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. For a franchise that once seemed destined to contend for championships every year, Golden State now faces the basketball equivalent of purgatory: fighting just to make the real playoffs. And based on their now-complete trilogy of play-in losses, purgatory hasn’t been kind to the Warriors.

If they can’t secure the sixth seed, we might be watching the final desperate gasps of a dynasty that once had the basketball world at its feet. The play-in tournament: historically where Warriors’ dreams go to die. It’d be great not to go back there, eh Dub Nation?