I’ll keep this post updated with a master list of our Honorary Warriors For Life Project and links to our current polls. Results for individual players will have their own articles.

Introducing Honorary Warriors For Life

The concept is simple. You get to vote on the question “Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life?”

What does that phrase mean? I once tried to define it, and people found it more fun to bring in their own definitions, so it is now back to being kept vague, like “Most Valuable Player” or “Greatest Of All Time”.

Each person is linked to their full article, plus their splits of answers to the poll question, either

“Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life?”

with the % for Yes / No / Don’t Know Them numbers, or with the replies to

Dub Nation, imagine you see X in a game with no practical implications for the Warriors. (So not against GSW, ignore draft picks, playoff seeding, etc.) Do you want them to do well or poorly?

listing % replies in the order of Well / Poorly / Don’t Care Either Way / Don’t Know Who They Are.

The List of Honorary Warriors For Life

A huge majority of Dub Nation is pulling for these people. These beloved people got a straight Yes Warrior For Life or “Want Them To Do Well” vote of more than 75%.

HWFL Direct Voting

• David West. 97.7 / 2.3 / 0

• Assistant Coach Mike Brown. 96.5 / 0.6 / 2.9

• Zaza Pachulia. 91.8 / 8.0 / 0.3

• Juan Toscano-Anderson*, 85.7 / 12.8 / 0.4

• Gary Payton II*. 80.8 / 19.2 / 0

• JaVale McGee. 79.7 / 18.6 / 1.8

• Damion Lee*. 75.4 / 23.3 / 1.0

Well / Poorly Voting

• Shaun Livingston. 96.5 / 1.2 / 2.3 / 0

• Andre Iguodala. 93.7 / 0.5 / 5.3 / 0.5

• Leandro Barbosa. 93.2 / 0 / 5.6 / 1.2

• Marreese Speights. 93.1 / 0 / 6.3 / 0.6

• Baron Davis. 88 / 0 / 12 / 0

• Ian Clark. 85 / 2 / 13 / 0

• Glenn Robinson III*. 85 / 1 / 13 / 1

• David Lee. 84 / 1 / 13 / 2

• Monta Ellis. 82.3 / 1.6 / 14.5 / 1.6

• Mitch Richmond. 82.1 / 3.6 / 8.9 / 5.4

• Chris Mullin. 82 / 1 / 16 / 1

• Andrew Bogut. 82 / 3.4/ 14.6 / 0

• Omari Spellman*. 82 / 2 / 14 / 2

• Allen Iverson. 80 / 1 / 18 / 1

• Damian Lillard. 78.6 / 1.9 / 18.4 / 1

• Jason Richardson. 78.5 / 3.2 / 14.6 / 3.8

• Thunder the mascot. 77 / 9 / 10 / 4

• Matt Barnes. 76.1 / 0.9 / 22.1 / 0.9

*Players who are voted in less than a year after their departure should have a confirmation vote at least one year afterwards.

The List of Honorary Warriors

A majority of Dub Nation that knows them is still pulling for them. These well-liked people did not make the 75% threshold for HWFL, but they got at least 50% Well vote out of those who know them, or at least 50% HWFL vote.

They have the consolation of Honorary Warrior, which entitles them to a smaller discount at the Dub Nation HQ Gift Shop.

HWFL Direct Voting

• None so far

Well / Poorly Voting

• Giannis Antetokounmpo. 73.4 / 4.6 / 20.2 / 1.7

• Coach Don Nelson. 72.6 / 2.8 / 22.6 / 1.9

• Jordan Bell. 71.9 / 0.7 / 27.4 / 0

• DeMarcus Cousins. 71.6 / 1.2 / 25.9 / 1.2.

• Al Harrington. 69.6 / 6.4 / 21.1 / 2.9

• Kevin Durant. 69.5 / 10.5 / 18 / 2

• Tim Hardaway. 69.2 / 2.1 / 27.3 / 1.4

• Stephen Jackson. 68.1 / 2.8 / 26.4 / 2.8

• Alfonzo McKinnie. 69 / 4 / 26 / 1

• Alec Burks. 66.2 / 2.8 / 28.9 / 2.1

• Gilbert Arenas. 66.1 / 0 / 33.1 / 0.8

• Andris Biedrins. 63.2 / 2.3 / 27.6 / 6.9

• Gilbert Arenas. 62.3 / 0 / 36.4 / 1.3

• Adonal Foyle. 62 / 4 / 21 / 13

• Harrison Barnes. 62 / 9 / 27 / 2

• Kelly Oubre Jr. 61 / 10.1 / 28.9 / 0

• Eric Paschall. 56.5 / 6.5 / 36.9 / 0

• Antawn Jamison. 55 / 1 / 38 / 6

• Quinn Cook. 53.4 / 7.5 / 39.1

• D’Angelo Russell. 52.6 / 5.5 / 39.9 / 2

• Šarūnas Marčiulionis. 46.2 / 1.9 / 26.9 / 25

• Kent Bazemore. 51.1 / 22.5 / 26.4 / 0. HQ really hated that he left GSW to play with LeBron.

Limbo: Polled But Not Qualifying

These people were polled and did not reach any of the above threshold. They can be re-polled in the future if there is popular demand.

HWFL Direct Voting

• Otto Porter Jr. 34 / 66 / 0.

• Marquese Chriss. 24 / 75.3 / 0.6 . Web commenters have very high standards.

• Alen Smailagic. 21.2 / 77.4 / 1.5.

• Chris Webber. 13 / 86 / 1

• Chris Chiozza 8.6 / 90.3 / 1.1

Well / Poorly Voting

• Trae Young. 39 / 17.6 / 42.6 / 0.7

• Rick Barry. 31.5 / 23.9 / 41.3 / 3.3

• Kawhi Leonard. 24.1 / 28.4 / 46.3 / 1.2.

• DeAndre Jordan. 1.7 / 33.3 / 61.7 / 3.3

• Blake Griffin. 13 / 43 / 41 / 3

• Coach Mark Jackson. 11.9 / 44.8 / 41.8 / 1.5

• Trevor Ariza. 9 / 42 / 47 / 2. Note Killjoy pictures in thread.

• Kyle Lowry. 23 / 35 / 40 / 2

• Latrell Sprewell. 38 / 18 / 37 / 7. A lot of Don’t Knows.

Warriors Villains

A majority of Warriors fans who know them are wanting these people to do Poorly.

• Russell Westbrook. 8.4 / 71.1 / 20 / 0.5

• Richard Jefferson. 7.1 / 58.7 / 33.3 / 0.8

• LBJ. 16 / 55 / 27 / 2

Warriors Villains For Life

An amazing 75% of Dub Nation is wanting these people to do Poorly.

• James Harden. 3.6 / 77.8 / 15.6 / 3

• Chris Paul. 2.1 / 79.3 / 16.4 / 2.1

We had an emergency runoff to determine the absolute Least Favored player between Paul and Harden, and James Harden won.

Nominees for Upcoming Polls

• Festus Ezeli

• Pat McCaw

• Jonas Jerebko

• Damian Jones

• Jacob Evans

• Mike Montgomery

• PJ Carlissimo

• Nick Young

Elected and Awaiting Induction

• Ian Clark. 85 / 2 / 13 / 0

• Andrew Bogut. 82 / 3.4/ 14.6 / 0

• Glenn Robinson III. 85 / 1 / 13 / 1

• Omari Spellman*. 82 / 2 / 14 / 2

• Thunder the mascot. 77 / 9 / 10 / 4

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are you to decide such weighty matters?

Hello, I’m Eric Apricot. And relax, this is just a chance to reminisce about players. No one really cares what I think.

Why isn’t X in this list???

They haven’t been polled yet. Nominate them in a comment on one of the main HWFL articles. Comments are closed on this article.

Why isn’t X rated higher??? This is ridiculous / an outrage / meaningless without Y being higher!!!

Go talk to Dub Nation. I just report the poll results, and yes the poll is unscientific (see below), but my bet is that a lot of Dub Nation doesn’t agree with you.

Aren’t your little polls meaningless?

Yes. There are self-selection sampling issues, I disproportionately sample from people in my Twitter followers, the polls run for different lengths on different days of the weeks, etc etc etc.

But.

The margin of error on a randomly sampled poll of a hundred people is under 10%.

After running a hundred of these casual polls, I have come to believe they do represent the general sentiment of online Dub Nation, + / - about 10%. If you disagree, I’d love to see you run my poll question in a more scientific way. Seriously, share the results with me.

Come on, isn’t this just a popularity contest?

Yes. Your point is…?

Where is Steph???

This is only for people NOT CURRENTLY in the Warriors organization.

Why do you ask about Well / Poorly and not directly about Honorary Warriors For Life?

(2021.09.25) I changed the system back to a straight "Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life" due to popular demand. But this answer records why I changed it in the first place.

I used to poll directly the question "Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life". These discussions would get hung up on the definition of "Honorary Warrior For Life", which is just a funny phrase I came up with in 5 seconds, when I thought it would be funny to vote on it like the baseball hall of fame (75% threshold). I wasn't drunk but I probably hadn't slept much either.

This is good for engagement... for instance, 95% of Most Valuable Player discussions are about the definition of the phrase and not about players. I know many people LOVE to argue about definitions. (What is a hooper??)

It all came to a head a couple years ago when we were arguing about Rick Barry. Most people polled hate him. But many felt some obligation to call him an Honorary Warrior. Rick Barry's radio co-host even wrote me on Twitter flaming me for even suggesting that Rick wasn't an HWFL. That was novel but not educational.

So, I have been trying a different poll. I also wanted to be able to ask the same question about David West as I would James Harden without biasing people to assume that one was HWFL and one was a Warriors Villain For Life.

Is it scientific? Definitely not. Can it be gamed? I'm not so sure. After doing dozens and dozens of these polls, I feel very comfortable about the outcomes. I believe that only the most loved characters can make the 75% threshold of Well. Often players that I wanted to be HWFL didn't make it and it's clear that Dub Nation was only lukewarm on some of my favorites. 

This process is vulnerable, like all polls, to the heat of the moment. I am guessing Damian and Omari wouldn't qualify today. If there were anything at stake, we should wait at least 1 year after a player leaves in order to be considered (like the MLB HOF having a 5 year wait period post-retirement before voting). 

On the other hand, it's boring and overly scientific to wait a year. Voting on Omari, GR3 and Burks now... it seems like the moment has passed.

So anyway, I'm always open to changing up the process... my main criterion is whether it triggers decent discussion. And for now, people who want to argue about HWFL can discuss that anyway...

Give a gift subscription