The Golden State Warriors came into the 2025-26 season with high hopes. They finished the 2024-25 season 23-8 following their trade deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler and made it to the second round of the playoffs, only bowing out against the Timberwolves after both Butler and Steph Curry became hampered by injuries. Thus, expectations were sky-high heading into the first full year with the All-Star duo.

Despite a slow start, things were looking good by January. They won 12 of their 16 games in the month between December and January 20th, and were poised to make a push for a top six seed, reaching six games above .500.

But, because of Butler's torn ACL he suffered on the 19th against the Miami Heat, everything was thrown off. Curry's knee injury less than two weeks later didn't help the cause, and now, the Warriors find themselves as the 10th seed in the Western Conference, needing to win two road games to even make it into the playoffs.

Ahead of their first Play-In game — a matchup with the Clippers slated for Wednesday night — Curry provided some perspective on the Warriors' position in relation to both their expectations and their past experiences.

"Even though it's a different narrative than when we came into the season, it is (meaningful basketball). It's an opportunity for us to keep our season alive and give ourselves a chance to get into a playoff series. We've had every experience, from the Play-In to lower seed and winning home-court advantage, number one seed — everything, we've pretty much experienced it all. We'll tap into whatever we need to to get ready for tomorrow."

Curry went to describe what exactly he means by "meaningful basketball," a phrase he's used a few times over the years.

"It was a concept just of how I wanted to frame or how we would end this run that we've been on. It's hard to keep this thing together. We all know that. What we've done over the last decade-plus has been very special, very unique. Top of the mountain, had to fall down, climb back up. Meaningful basketball is just a way for us — the core, me, Draymond, Steve, when Klay was here — it was just an idea of trying to keep it together and still be competitive and still try to chase championships with the framework of what we've built.

As Curry said, the Warriors have experienced just about every possible combination of season outcomes in the franchise legend's time in the Bay Area.

That rings true for the Play-In Tournament, even if it is only in its sixth year of existence. This year already marks the fourth time the Warriors will play at least one game in the Tournament, and the third year in a row they'll have to make it out to reach the playoffs.

The first two cracks they had at it weren't pretty, in terms of team success. In 2021, the inaugural year of the Play-In Tournament, the Dubs got two chances as an 8-seed, but falling to the Lakers on a LeBron James game-winning three and to the Grizzlies at home in overtime leaves a sour taste, to be sure.

They got their revenge on the league the next year by winning the championship, but found themselves back in the Play-In with disappointing results once again in 2024. This time, it was a blowout loss to the Kings, featuring the infamous 0-10 game from Klay Thompson, that sent the Warriors packing immediately.

The Warriors finally earned their first Play-In win last year with their triumphant victory over the Grizzlies as the 7-seed, led by immaculate performances from both Curry and Butler.

This time around, with no Butler and the Clippers having a much better season record against the Warriors than the Grizzlies did last year, it's going to take an even more Herculean effort from Curry to pull it off. As he said, though, this isn't a new experience for most of the Warriors, and it's something they've been preparing for for a long while.