Thompson: Warriors need another title for Oakland fans before move

The Golden State Warriors have revolutionized the NBA over the last half-decade, winning three titles in four years. But winning another one in 2019 will have special meaning to the team, as this is their last campaign playing at Oakland's venerable Oracle Arena.

"We want to do it for the fans of Oakland," Klay Thompson said Sunday, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. "Been so loyal to us for 40-plus years, whatever it's been since they've been in Oracle ... it's leaving a big legacy behind in Oakland because people might not get to see us as much in San Francisco."

The Warriors will move across the Bay Bridge to the Chase Center next season, a shift that has left many of the team's longtime East Bay fans disillusioned.

Steve Kerr alluded to the special home court advantage that the Dubs have built in Oakland. They're 143-21 there in the regular season since Kerr took over as coach in 2014. They also won 16 straight playoff home games between 2017-18.

"It is bittersweet," Kerr said. "It's hard to replicate an atmosphere like Oracle's. I think back to the Boston Garden, going to the new Garden. The old Chicago Stadium where I played to the new one. It's hard to create that same sort of intimacy when you're building a new arena with suites and concourses and everything else."

The Warriors originally settled in San Francisco after moving to California in 1962, but began playing games in Oakland in 1966 - moving there permanently in 1971.