2001–02 Golden State Warriors season

Brian Winters

The 2001–02 Golden State Warriors season was the 56th season for the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association, and their 40th season in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Warriors received the fifth overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Jason Richardson from Michigan State University, while drafting power forward Troy Murphy from the University of Notre Dame with the 14th overall pick, and point guard Gilbert Arenas from the University of Arizona with the 31st overall pick in the second round.

The addition of Richardson, Murphy and Arenas sought to help with the Warriors' struggles the past seasons with a 5–3 start to the regular season; instead, their struggles continued as they lost 12 of their next 15 games. Head coach Dave Cowens was fired after an 8–15 start to the season, and was replaced with Brian Winters. At mid-season, second-year center Marc Jackson was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Dean Garrett. The Warriors suffered a ten-game losing streak in March, and finished in last place in the Pacific Division with a 21–61 record, missing the NBA playoffs for the eighth consecutive year; their record was also tied with the Chicago Bulls for the league-worst record during the regular season.

Antawn Jamison averaged 19.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Richardson averaged 14.4 points and 1.3 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Larry Hughes provided the team with 12.3 points, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. In addition, Danny Fortson provided with 11.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, while Arenas contributed 10.9 points, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and Bob Sura contributed 10.0 points and 3.5 assists per game. Meanwhile, Erick Dampier averaged 7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, Chris Mills contributed 7.4 points per game, Murphy provided with 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, and Adonal Foyle averaged 4.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Richardson won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and was also selected for the NBA Rookie Challenge Game, as a member of the Rookies team; Richardson scored 26 points along with 6 rebounds, and was named the Rookie Challenge Game's Most Valuable Player, as the Rookies defeated the Sophomores team, 103–97. He also finished tied in third place in Rookie of the Year voting.

The Warriors finished 24th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 593,182 at The Arena in Oakland during the regular season. Following the season, Hughes signed as a free agent with the Washington Wizards, while Winters was fired as head coach, Garrett was released to free agency and Mookie Blaylock retired.