Sports Illustrated honours Warriors

The three-time National Basketball Association champion Golden State Warriors are the fourth team to be honoured as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year.

The Warriors join the

1980 U.S. hockey team, the

’99 U.S. Women’s World Cup soccer squad and the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the other team honourees.

Sports Illustrated announced the winner Monday, and editorin-chief Chris Stone said the magazine has been thinking of some way to honour the Warriors during their run of three titles in four years.

“There is something transcendent about the team where the sum of their parts was apparent from the beginning,” Stone said. “What they have built into a dynasty is a function of empirical success. They’re really a generational team. I don’t know if, in my lifetime, there has been a team where the pieces have blended so beautifully together.”

Stone also acknowledged there were a couple years where Steph Curry has been in the conversation. Stone said the Warriors’ honour is more about the celebration of the organization doing something unique over an extended period while the other teams were honoured for what they accomplished in a certain year.

Alexander Ovechkin, who led the Washington Capitals to their first Stanley Cup title, Tiger Woods and LeBron James also received consideration, but Stone said the Warriors felt like the favourite when they repeated as NBA champions.