With their championship window all but closed, the Golden State Warriors have made the most of the sliver of space left open. The veteran squad is going down with the ship. As Stephen Curry is in the twilight stage of his career, the NBA dynasty hopes to remain competitive.

That’s something the Oklahoma City Thunder aim for. One NBA championship banner already hanging from the rafters, they hope to have the same success in the 2020s that the Warriors did in the 2010s — several Larry O’Brien trophies and an all-time guard who defined an era.

Advertisement

Even if both fanbases have grown to hate each other over the years to toxic levels, that hasn’t spilled over to the court. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talked about his admiration for the Warriors and their ability to play competitive basketball for a decade-plus with mostly the same cast of characters.

The Thunder will host the Warriors on primetime Saturday night. It could preview a Round 1 series as Golden State has remained in the postseason picture despite Curry’s nagging knee injuries and Jimmy Butler III’s season-ending torn ACL.

One example of that is the Warriors’ recent overtime win over the Houston Rockets. Playing on the road with a short-handed rotation littered with two-way players, Brandin Podziemski and Draymond Green served the upset over NBA All-Star players Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun.

Smiling widely across his face, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said the upset win had a playoff-esque feel to it. He also brashly reminded folks of Golden State’s success over the years in Houston. They had some of the best NBA playoff series throughout the 2010s.

Advertisement

“I think there’s something to guys that expect to win the game that they play. That’s what I’d say about Green and Horford,” Daigneault said. “Horford was obviously here. I know that really well with him and Green from a distance. When those guys line up and lace them up, they expect to win and are disappointed when they don’t. That’s a contagious thing.”

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. If any NBA franchise can sympathize with what the Thunder have gone through this season, it’s the Warriors. They had a decade-long run where the rest of the league grew jealous of their success. OKC hopes to carry Golden State’s torch as the new version of that dominant squad.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Why Mark Daigneault has ultimate respect for Warriors’ continuity