Aside from Christmas Day and perhaps some specific matchups with notable storylines, there’s little that brings as much excitement as opening night in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors have been featured in the marquee slot regularly in recent years, though it remains to be seen whether they’ll do so again in 2024 after missing the playoffs last season.

Regardless of when and where the Warriors play their first game, there’ll be a keen sense of anticipation as the franchise seeks to atone for a year that failed to reach expectations.

A number of teams could provide the Golden State Warriors with a blockbuster and mouth-watering opening game next season

Season openers haven’t been overly favorable to the Golden State in recent times, having lost three of their past five including last year’s hard-fought 108-104 home defeat to the Phoenix Suns. Who could they face to tip-off next season? Let’s have a look at three realistic and exciting options ahead of the schedule announcement later this month:

1. Sacramento Kings

What better way for the Warriors to put last season behind them than recording a victory over the team that eliminated them in the Play-In Tournament? Golden State and Sacramento have developed a rivalry of sorts over the past two years, but both will be looking to respond after missing the playoffs last season.

The Kings will be buoyed by the addition of DeMar DeRozan, yet the Warriors will also be confident that their roster additions will make them a better team next season. A first-up contest between the two would provide an early litmus test given the expectations that they’ll each be in the middle tier of the conference again.

2. Phoenix Suns

A rematch of last season’s opener could be even more enthralling this time around, with the Warriors and Suns having engaged in a number of notable battles in the last 12 months. Phoenix won three-straight games all by eight points or less, before Golden State responded thanks to an extraordinary game-winning three-pointer from Stephen Curry.

The ongoing Draymond Green-Jusuf Nurkic feud is also a major storyline, having started with an incident last season where the Warrior forward subsequently missed 16 games through suspension. It’s also notable whenever Kevin Durant plays against his former team, not to mention that both will be fighting for a playoff spot again next season.

3. Dallas Mavericks

Klay Thompson against the Warriors — it’s going to be huge whenever it happens. As a result of being drawn in the same group for the NBA Cup, we know it will happen at some point by early December. But could it happen on opening night?

Either way the franchise legend’s return to Chase Center will be emotional one, so why not get it out of the way early? Perhaps that’s what Thompson would want anyway, allowing him to move on with the season rather than keeping one eye on when his first matchup against Golden State would be.