Warriors tipoff 2023-24 with opening-night battle vs. Kevin Durant, Suns
The Golden State Warriors will tipoff 2023-24 in typically dramatic fashion, welcoming Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns to Chase Center.
The Golden State Warriors will tipoff the 2023-24 season by finally welcoming an old friend back to a sold-out Chase
Center. Kevin Durant and the new-look Phoenix Suns will reportedly travel to the Bay Area to face the Dubs on
October 24th in an opening-night battle of star-laden championship hopefuls.
The other opening-night game pits the Los Angeles Lakers against the defending-champion Denver Nuggets,
according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals.
Durant has yet to play in front of the Warriors’ home crowd since leaving the team in free agency in 2019. The two-
time Finals MVP with Golden State played at Chase Center with the Brooklyn Nets in February 2021, but there were
no fans in attendance as a result of COVID-19. He sat out Brooklyn’s next two trips to San Francisco due to injury,
and was also sidelined last March when the Suns visited the Warriors for the first time since acquiring him at the
trade deadline.
Durant, of course, isn’t the only future Hall-of-Famer with direct ties to his new team’s opening-night foe. Chris
Paul spent the last three seasons with Phoenix before the franchise elected to move on from him early this summer,
ultimately landing the Point God in Golden State following his initial trade to the Washington Wizards for Bradley
Beal.
If fraught histories of Durant and Paul didn’t provide this juicy opening-night matchup with enough narrative
intrigue, look no further than the respectful personal rivalry between Klay Thompson and Devin Booker. Who could
forget early last season when the Dubs’ four-time champion flashed four fingers at Booker during a blowout loss in
the desert?
Clear your calendars for October 24th. The Nuggets are kings of the Western Conference for now, but nobody would
be surprised if opening night’s matchup between Golden State and Phoenix proves an illuminating preview of the
2024 Western Conference Finals.
Chris Paul, Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns
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