Warriors Rank Top Two in Defensive Stat They've Struggled with for Decades

Steve Kerr has drilled the phrase "defend without fouling" into the Golden State Warriors' players for his entire 12-year coaching tenure.

This year's team is actually doing it.

Entering Tuesday, the Warriors are allowing just 22.1 free-throw attempts per game, which is the second-fewest in the NBA.

When Was the Last Time the Warriors Finished Top Five in OPP FTA?

Surely the dynasty Warriors did it at some point, right? Actually, none of those teams got even close. The only Warriors team of the last 20 years in the top 10 in opponent free throw attempts (OPP FTA) was the 2019-20 Steph-less, Klay-less, last-place-in-the-NBA team. They finished 10th.

The 2003-04 Warriors finished eighth, and to find the next top 10 finish you have to go back to 1985-86(!), which was a seventh-place ranking.

You have to go back all the way to 1972-73(!!) to find a Warriors team that finished in the top five in free throw attempts allowed per game.

That team was anchored by Hall of Fame center Nate Thurmond, and former Warriors announcer Jim Barnett started 66 games alongside Hall of Famer Rick Barry. The NBA had just 17 teams at the time.

Can the Warriors Keep This Up?

From February 8 to the end of last year's regular season, the Warriors ranked ninth in free throw attempts allowed per game. That was Jimmy Butler's first game as a Warrior.

So Golden State's excellence in this area in the first 15 games of the 2025-26 season doesn't feel like a fluke.

Butler is great at avoiding fouls (he's averaging just 1.4 fouls per game for his career), and free-agent addition Al Horford is also good at it, as he's been under two fouls per game for the last six seasons.

Horford is mainly replacing Kevon Looney's minutes, and Looney's career fouls per 36 minutes (4.6) is almost double Horford's (2.4).

Among the Warriors who have played over 150 minutes this season, only Draymond Green (4.8) and Will Richard (4.3) average more than three fouls per 36 minutes.

Maybe a second-place ranking is unsustainable for a team that's often undersized, but on the other hand, the defense would be in fewer vulnerable positions if the offense took better care of the ball.

The Warriors are 26th in turnover rate, and even a slight improvement here would lead to fewer fouls in transition.

On the flip side, the Warriors are averaging 24.7 free throw attempts per game. So they are attempting 2.6 more than they are allowing, which is a big change from recent history. Just two years ago, the Warriors gave up 2.4 more than they allowed, and three years ago the disparity was minus-five per game.

Call it the Jimmy Effect.