The Golden State Warriors were not supposed to end like this. What began as the most elegant, terrifying, and revolutionary dynasty basketball had ever seen has slowly unraveled through a cruel mix of catastrophic injuries, bad timing, and one moment of internal chaos that shattered trust. With Jimmy Butler suffering a season-ending ACL tear in 2026, the final thread may have snapped.
- 1. Kevin Durant Tears His Achilles In Game 5 Of The 2019 NBA Finals
- 2. Klay Thompson Tears His ACL In Game 6 Of The 2019 NBA Finals
- 3. Klay Thompson Tears His Achilles Before The 2020–21 season
- 4. The Punch That Killed The Revival
- 5. De’Anthony Melton’s Injury Derails The 2024–25 Season
- 6. Stephen Curry’s Hamstring Strain Ends The 2025 Playoff Run
- 7. Jimmy Butler’s ACL Tear Is The Last Dagger
- Six Injuries And One Punch Potentially Ended The Greatest Dynasty
Looking back now, it is clear the Warriors were not beaten by age or strategy alone. Six season-ending injuries and one punch dismantled what could have been the greatest dynasty of all time.
It started in the 2019 NBA Finals.
1. Kevin Durant Tears His Achilles In Game 5 Of The 2019 NBA Finals
The Warriors entered the 2019 Finals chasing a three-peat, already banged up but still terrifying. Kevin Durant had missed the entire Western Conference Finals and the first four games against the Toronto Raptors with a calf injury. Down 3–1, the Warriors rolled the dice and brought him back for Game 5.
For 12 minutes, Durant reminded everyone who he was. Then, on a simple isolation move, he pulled up and collapsed. He tore his Achilles tendon, and in an instant, the three-peat dream died. Durant would leave in the offseason, and while he may have left anyway, winning that title would have made walking away far harder. The invincible aura cracked that night.
2. Klay Thompson Tears His ACL In Game 6 Of The 2019 NBA Finals
If Durant’s injury was a dagger, Klay Thompson’s was a gut punch. Game 6. The Warriors are fighting for survival. Thompson had 30 points and was dragging them back into the game when he went up for a fast-break dunk and landed awkwardly. Torn ACL.
He still walked to the free-throw line and knocked down both shots before leaving the floor, a final act of defiance that summed up the dynasty. The Warriors lost the game, the series, and the Big Four era ended right there. Durant was gone. Klay was out for a year, and the dynasty had its first fall.
3. Klay Thompson Tears His Achilles Before The 2020–21 season
The Warriors spent 2019–20 in limbo. Stephen Curry missed most of the season, the roster was stripped bare, and hope rested on a healthy return. Then, before the 2020–21 season even began, disaster struck again. Thompson tore his Achilles tendon in a pickup game.
Two years. ACL and Achilles. For a shooter whose game relied on constant movement, it was devastating. Curry went nuclear that season, but he was alone. The Warriors fell out of the play-in tournament. The Splash Brothers, once unstoppable, were ghosts of a different era.
4. The Punch That Killed The Revival
Against all odds, the Warriors rose again. In 2022, they won another championship, blending veterans with youth. Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, and others looked like the bridge to a second dynasty.
Then came the punch.
Before the 2022–23 season, Draymond Green punched Poole during practice. The video leaked. Apologies followed, and a suspension was issued. But trust never returned as the chemistry was poisoned. The Warriors never looked connected again. They failed to defend their title, and Poole was traded the following summer. The chance at a seamless transition from dynasty to dynasty died in that practice gym.
5. De’Anthony Melton’s Injury Derails The 2024–25 Season
After missing the playoffs in 2023–24, the Warriors retooled. De’Anthony Melton arrived as the perfect defensive complement to Curry, especially after Thompson’s departure. The start of the 2024–25 season was promising. The defense was sharp, and the energy was back.
Then Melton went down with a season-ending ACL injury. The balance disappeared overnight. The Warriors treaded water, bled games, and lost momentum they never regained, until they got Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline.
6. Stephen Curry’s Hamstring Strain Ends The 2025 Playoff Run
The Warriors made one last aggressive push, acquiring Butler and reshaping their identity into a defensive, playoff-ready group. It worked. They beat the Houston Rockets in seven games. They stole Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In that same game, Curry strained his hamstring.
He missed the next four games. The Warriors lost all four. The season ended quietly, not with a blowout, but with a realization: without Curry, nothing works. At 37, injuries no longer bounce off him. Time finally caught up.
7. Jimmy Butler’s ACL Tear Is The Last Dagger
Now comes the cruelest irony. Butler, brought in to extend the window, suffered a season-ending ACL tear in 2026 while playing some of his best basketball. The Warriors were trending upward again, winning 12 out of the last 16 games. The urgency was real.
Instead, the Warriors are stuck. Butler is owed over $54 million. Curry is aging. Steve Kerr faces an impossible balancing act. The dynasty is no longer collapsing; it has collapsed.
Six Injuries And One Punch Potentially Ended The Greatest Dynasty
Each moment chipped away at continuity, trust, and timing. No dynasty in NBA history has absorbed this much elite-level damage and survived. The Warriors still won four championships. They changed the game forever. But when people ask why they did not become the undisputed greatest dynasty ever, the answer is painfully clear.
They were not beaten by rivals. They were beaten by fate itself.
