OAKLAND — After a summer of celebration, reflection, addition, and subtraction, the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors showed up for their first day of work on Friday.
There were a few more people greeting them at the office this year — the team’s public relations staff estimated that there were 200 credentialed media members in attendance at Friday’s media day — but the Warriors didn’t seem to mind the extra attention.
They’re used to it by now.
Four years ago, the Warriors were a plucky upstart — a team on the rise. No one expected that team to ascend to where they are at the start of the 2017-18 season: atop the mountain as the defending champions and creators of an existential crisis around the NBA.