SAN FRANCISCO — On the night the Golden State Warriors honored the 50th anniversary of its squad that won the 1975 NBA championship, Hall of Famer Rick Barry wanted to make sure his team got as much of the spotlight as they could. At 81 years old, the outspoken MVP of that team is still immensely proud of what he and his team accomplished — and hopeful that the group gets the recognition he feels it deserves.
Barry doesn’t just believe the 1975 Warriors pulled off the greatest upset in NBA history with a 4-0 sweep over the Washington Bullets; he thinks the accomplishment goes even deeper than that.
“Biggest upset in the history of major sports in the United States,” Barry said before Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers. “I defy anybody to point something else out that was as dramatic as what we did. It was a special group of people that came together like a family, cared about one another, played the game the way it was.
“We epitomized, I think, what the game of basketball should be about as far as a team goes.”
In Barry’s mind, the Warriors’ accomplishment was even bigger than that of New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath’s guarantee of a victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III and the 1969 New York Mets’ triumph over the Baltimore Orioles.
“Everybody says, ‘Oh no, the Jets,’” Barry said. “Bulls—. The Jets were picked to be the winners of (the American Football League). The Miracle Mets? No way. We were a team; people said we’d be lucky to win 20 games. So you can’t find anything more dramatic than what happened, and it’s the most overlooked.”
Barry and the rest of the living members of the ’75 team were in attendance Friday night. The group included Barry, Butch Beard, Charles Dudley, George Johnson, Jeff Mullins, Clifford Ray and Jamaal Wilkes. Alvin Attles III represented his father, the late coach Alvin Attles.
50 years ago, this group made history.
Tonight, they’re being recognized by #DubNation pic.twitter.com/BHUNnI3yhF
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 22, 2025
As Barry reflected on how proud he was of the group, his opinions on today’s game emerged.
“We were a team that committed ourself to defense,” Barry said. “Everybody says defense wins championships, that’s a bunch of bulls—. You have to outscore the opponent; now you have to be a good defensive team to win. In the history of the NBA, I think only two teams were not in the top 10 in defense that won championships. So that’s kind of an anomaly. They weren’t down in the 20s either.”
In Barry’s mind, the key to winning championships remains the same. He brought up how the 2015 Warriors won their first championship as a group reminded him of the way the 1975 squad did it 40 years earlier. Barry appreciated the depth needed for them to win, the same way Attles used a deep rotation all those years earlier.
TOGETHERNESS.
In 1975, the Golden State Warriors won their first title of the West Coast era. Fifty years later, that team’s legacy of excellence remains.#DubNation, members of the ’74-’75 Dubs will be on Warriors Ground for an in-game recognition TONIGHT. pic.twitter.com/tMuvQqIMl6
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 21, 2025
Barry also pushed back on the idea that today’s game is all about scoring enough points. In his mind, any great team still must have balance.
“I don’t think it’s all offense now,” Barry said. “The only teams that win play defense. That’s the redeeming thing about the NBA, as crazy as it is at times, is that the redeeming quality is that only the teams that play the game the way it was designed to be played win championships. Teams who are unselfish, who don’t do everything one on one, who play defense, and try to be a good defensive team. Those are the ones that wind up winning.”
Barry and his teammates spoke fondly about their time together — then and now — and are enjoying the fact that a documentary is being put together about the time 50 years after they won the title. Barry was asked why he felt the group didn’t get the recognition he felt it deserved.
“I hope it’s not because of me,” he said. “I’m serious. Dead serious. I know the NBA was not happy with me. I came in the NBA and made first team all-pro, MVP of the All-Star Game, led the league in scoring, did stuff and left. They were really mad at me. And it changed basketball (for) the better because I challenged the reserve clause and opened it up for guys to be able to change teams.
“I was Curt Flood before Curt Flood. Everybody talks about Curt Flood. Hell, we did that in 1967 after I left in 1967. And so I’m hoping they weren’t mad at me and didn’t want to give us a lot of recognition, but they didn’t. We were so overlooked it was hard for me to believe we were so overlooked.”
Wilkes offered his opinion on why the group never got the due they felt they deserved.
“We were in Oakland,” Wilkes said. “We weren’t even in San Francisco. We were in Oakland, a small market, and I think we just kind of got lost in the shuffle. Plus, we had two Black head coaches at a time when the league was kind of unstable. Going through that transition of drugs and all that.”
Barry insisted that the group should have received more praise along the way than it did. His passion for his team showed while he spoke behind the podium inside the Bill King Interview Room at Chase Center on Friday night.
“If our team had done what we did and we were in New York, they would have had a documentary the next year,” Barry said. “Fifty years overlooked. No invite to the White House. No cover of Sports Illustrated. It’s really a shame, and the shame is that my teammates never got the recognition that they deserve because it wasn’t about me. I got stuff because I was MVP, but you don’t win by one person.”
