The Golden State Warriors arrived for the first weekend of training camp with smiles on their faces and glowing championship halos still hanging around their heads.
Veterans and youth alike seemed to be riding the high that peaked in Boston on June 16, when they clinched yet another trophy. One half expected blue and yellow confetti to fall out of their hair.
“One of the guys on the training staff was saying: ‘Go win a championship your first year and they call you ‘Champ’ for the rest of your career,’” Moses Moody said. “That’s cool to have him say that and then actually see it come through. ... It doesn’t get old.”
Being a champ should never get old. But champs can still set new goals. Like becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since the Warriors themselves did it in 2018 and only the second franchise to do in the 21st century (the Kobe Bryant-led Lakers did it twice).
And something more specific. Like having Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala join the elite of the NBA’s elite.
“For me personally, and probably for Steph, Andre and Draymond, you think of the players who have won five championships,” Thompson said. “It’s such a short list. To have the opportunity — just the opportunity — to be able to do that is so special.
“I think back to my rookie season; if you would have told me in 10 years, I would have the opportunity to win five championships with the Warriors, I would have laughed in your face. To be here and heading into this season, healthy and with this opportunity, I get chills thinking about it every day.”
The names on the list that the Warriors’ original four aspire to join are chill inducing. In the long history of the NBA, 26 total players have won five or more rings, including Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan. Oh, and a scrappy little shooter named Steve Kerr (who has since added four more rings as the Warriors’ coach).
Thompson, who grew up in a Lakers family, is very aware of that history.
“I don’t think we’ve actually talked about it at all, but I think about it all the time,” he said. “I think about Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, Kobe … Kareem … Scottie, Michael. The greatest players to ever play are in that zone of championships.
“It’s mind-boggling to think that we have that opportunity. But we are going to seize it. I can feel it.”
Who knows what this season will bring? The Warriors have been on a roller coaster the past four years, starting with a fifth straight Finals appearance, then the worst record in the league, a bounce back year and then another title, perhaps the most satisfying of the four. Along the way, there were key departures, devastating injuries and record-shattering performances.
But Klay feels “it.” The whole team — with their big smiles and dreamy looks when talking about what took place last spring — clearly feels something similar. It is the confidence that comes from winning a title just a few months ago. That glow could transform into momentum.
The veterans proved they could win a championship again, a feat that kept them motivated last year, that kept the chip on the Warriors’ collective shoulder.
“It may not be quite, ‘Oh man, people don’t think we can do it again,’” Green said. “It’s not the same chip. But there are chips. There’s no shortage of chips.”
More importantly, the youngsters learned first-hand what it took to win a championship.
“You know you can’t really prepare for that — the playoffs, the Finals — without actually going through it,” Moody said. “And not many people get that opportunity.
“I did have that opportunity. Just soaking it up, paying attention to everything, every moment within that run, within those experiences. And trying to take the most out of it.”
Some, like Moody, got a taste of playing in the brightest spotlight. Some, like James Wiseman, soaked up lessons from the bench. Some, like Jordan Poole, found out that the biggest stage suited him just fine.
“You’ve got to stay locked in the entire time,” Poole said. “It’s a different demand than it is in the regular season. A lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of adjustments. Just stay connected.
“And the camaraderie that you have with your team is huge. We were able to build all year and play together and be healthy going into the playoffs.”
The main lesson? They’d like to do it all over again.
“Being able to experience that in year three, and to be a big part of that, is a really exciting feeling,” Poole said. “We played the best basketball at the highest level. …You know what that’s like now, to play at the highest level. You know what to expect and what it takes.
“I’m excited to see if we can get back to that, embrace that and experience it one more time.”
And if they do? On that list of players with five or more rings? The record books will need to add four more lines.
As Thompson says, the mere thought of it?
Mind-boggling.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion
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