After the way that the 2025-26 season unfolded for the Golden State Warriors, it is understandable that the last word fans and observers of the team want to hear is injury. Jimmy Butler, of course, tore his ACL in January, and less than two weeks after that, Stephen Curry suffered a mysterious “runner’s knee” injury that sideline him for February and March. New trade acquisition Kristaps Porzingis was hurt throughout his brief tenure, and Moses Moody tore his patellar tendon in March.
It was a brutal end to the season, and the Warriors won just 37 games and petered out in the play-in tournament with a loss to the Suns.
Now, the schedule for the 2026-27 Warriors is out and, for a team that will have Moody and Butler coming back from surgeries, plus the ever-fragile Porzingis, and four rotation players who are 36 or older, it looks like the slate for Steve Kerr’s team is packed with potential injury landmines.
That’s because the Warriors will have 15 back-to-backs coming up.
‘20%’ of Warriors Schedule is Back-to-Backs
That point was highlighted by Dr. Nirav Pandya, a Bay Area orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine for young athletes, and a frequent commentator on Warriors injuries. Dr. Pandya also recently headed up a paper that studied 19 Achilles tendon injuries in the NBA and correlated them to a spike in minutes played just before the injury occurred.
He looked at the Warriors’ schedule and saw that the team is being asked to play 15 back-to-backs. His response: “After my Achilles paper, I am not sure the NBA really cares about my thoughts on injury risk analysis, but this is a huge set up for poor performance and soft tissue injury for an older team. Nearly 20% of the schedule is back to backs!”
Warriors Get a Lighter Travel Schedule
The 15 back-to-backs is one less than the Warriors played a year ago, but still puts them among the most in the NBA. The Nets and Pelicans will play 16 back-to-backs, and the Warriors are tied for third-most.
Still, as Warriors beat writer Nick Friedell of The Athletic noted, the schedule is a bit less grueling than last year in general, with the Dubs still praying for good health.
He writes: “Overall, the schedule appears lighter from a travel standpoint than it did a year ago. There are no random two-game trips to the Midwest like there were last season for Kerr’s team. The Warriors just have to hope they can get Butler back … and that Curry can stay relatively healthy given his age and recent injury history. If those things happen, along with keeping veteran big man Kristaps Porziņģis healthy, the Warriors will give themselves the chance they were hoping to have at the end of last season.”
Back-to-Backs a Problem Yet Again
Still, the hefty helping of back-to-backs recalls what Kerr said back in May when his return to the Warriors as head coach was announced: He needs the Warriors to be younger, and with fresher legs because last year, shuffling old and injury-prone players in and out of the lineup forced a lack of continuity.
“The last couple of years, frankly, have been difficult with the age, the collective age of our team, the injuries,” Kerr said at the time. “We had like six guys this year who either couldn’t play back-to-backs or were on minutes restrictions – often at the same time. … It just felt like we were constantly resting everybody and just trying to survive to the next game and have enough healthy bodies.”
But the Warriors added rookie Yaxel Lendeborg and brought in no other young legs to the roster. Kerr’s plight, then, has not changed much.
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