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Sports

The Warriors Are At Home In Oakland—But for How Long?

Golden State has one of the biggest home-court advantages in sports, and a unique bond with their home city. That may change. For now, it's all about Oakland.
Photo by Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The streets of Oakland were quiet just a few hours before Game 1 of the NBA Finals. In the Fruitvale District, less than a mile from the Warriors' home court at Oracle Arena, mothers pushed strollers, kids walked home from school, and a few shoppers browsed the pop-up stands near the public market.

The loudest sounds came from the thumping samba and spanish-language hip-hop songs that chased each other down the street from one car window after another in this historically Latino part of the city. One or two stores were selling Warriors hats, and a few folks had Warriors t-shirts on, but otherwise there was very little indication that the first NBA Finals game ever to be played in Oakland was tipping off in three hours. Oakland would not be quiet for long.

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Read More: Talking To Nate Thurmond, The Hall Of Famer Who's A Legend In Golden State And Cleveland

As game-time neared, the city sprang to life. Bars and restaurants around Oakland were packed with fans of every size, age and color, and all awash in blue and yellow. These were neighbors, friends, and strangers, exchanging nervous smiles and high fives. The Warriors and the city they've captivated are not even trying to act like they've been here before. It's thrilling enough that this is Oakland's moment. It's all the more so because virtually no one that cares about the Warriors has experienced it before.

And so the city has given itself over to it. In City Center, the entrance to Oakland City Hall is adorned with a blue and gold sign declaring "Oakland is Warriors Ground." City and regional buses light up with "Go Warriors" messages after announcing their route. Posters of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson hang from street lights. Oakland, now more than ever, belongs to the Warriors.

There's nothing terribly surprising about that. Despite the nebulous-sounding regional "Golden State," Oakland's been the Warriors' permanent home for more than 40 years. For most of that time, there wasn't much to cheer about. These Warriors are a successful and supremely fun team comprised of hard-working, likable players and coaches; "not a knucklehead in the group" in the words of Warriors legend and community ambassador Nate Thurmond. Any city would be happy to ride for a winning team in the national spotlight, and the Warriors are easy to love. This seems simple, but it's not.

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Pilgrims, on their way to yell their dang heads off. — Photo by Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

While the connection between the city and team are strong, the business is the business, and the Warriors want out of Oakland; the team has announced plans to finance and build a new arena across the bay in San Francisco in time for the 2019-2020 season. Ed Lee, San Francisco's pro-development mayor, has made the move a big part of his legacy and is helping the team beat back a local opposition group. Lee also isn't waiting for the new arena to get in on the Warriors' action. After Golden State's Game 1 victory, the mayor tweeted a photo of San Francisco City Hall lit up in yellow and blue with the hashtags #LetsGoWarriors #DubNation #StrengthInNumbers #NBAFinals. He missed Game 1, but had a good excuse: he was in Washington, D.C. with the San Francisco Giants for their post-World Series visit to the White House.

Oakland's mayor Libby Schaaf is not distracted by the Warriors' departure plans. In a written statement to Vice Sports, the mayor said: "This team is a great example of how teamwork, determination and discipline pay off. We're thrilled that this entire playoff run and championship series give Oakland an opportunity to show basketball fans around the world who we are and what our city has to offer."

And who, what is Oakland? California's seventh-largest city is home to more than 400,000 people spread across 56 square miles, and by some measures Oakland is the most diverse city in the country: non-Hispanic white residents comprise 26 percent of the population, African-Americans 28, Hispanics 25, and Asian-Americans 17. That diversity has not brought economic equality. Oakland is a city of tremendous wealth and unspeakable poverty and despair. On Zillow.com, you can find a newly constructed four-bedroom, five-bathroom home in the Oakland hills for $3.3 million; bank auctions for foreclosed bungalows in East Oakland, not far from Oracle Arena, start at $115,000. There's both a hope for and fear of gentrification, which is something like a tectonic force in the Bay Area, and every bit as ungovernable. Oakland is already being changed by folks leaving higher-priced San Francisco; it will be changed further if and when the Warriors cross the Bay Bridge.

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If you watched Games 1 and 2 of the Finals, you saw Oakland in the crowd. The Warriors have fans throughout the Bay Area, of course, but the crowd at Oracle Arena reflects how Oakland is a unique, strange, beautiful, and loud place. Marcus Thompson calls Warriors games a "festival of culture." Thompson grew up in Oakland rooting for the Warriors, covered the Warriors for the Bay Area News Group, and is now a sports columnist there. "The Warriors have been the pride of Oakland since I was a kid," Thompson told me. This season "has been a coronation of how Oakland has supported this team."

In happier, louder times. — Photo by Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Broadcasts featuring the team also have had a decidedly Oakland flavor. Gone were the images of San Francisco's cable cars and Transamerica Pyramid that were so often used by national broadcasts to lead into or out from commercials during Warriors games. Games 1 and 2 featured the Port of Oakland, Grand Lake Theater, Lake Merritt, downtown Oakland, and the Bay Bridge with San Francisco bright and distant in the background. Those images were the handiwork of Kim Bardakian and her colleagues at Visit Oakland, the city's tourism arm. Bardakian led discussions with ABC and ESPN to more prominently highlight the sights and sounds of Oakland during the Finals.

It has been, and remains, a hell of a ride. But there is a bigger question constant under the celebration: will an NBA Championship keep the Warriors in Oakland? Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo, an Oakland native and longtime Warriors fans, says "the doors are wide open" to working out a deal. But the city has its hands full trying to keep the Oakland A's and Oakland Raiders from moving, and committing public funds for sports teams is not a priority in a city with other issues that need addressing.

Thompson says Oakland natives whisper to each other: How could the Warriors leave this party now? The answer lies with Warriors owner Joe Lacob, who has been booed lustily in his own arena, and who, as a partner at the venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins, is a charter member of San Francisco's tech-industry elite. He wants a new state-of-the-art venue in San Francisco. In the Bay Area, as most everywhere else, people with Lacob's net worth usually get what they want.

For now, the people of Oakland are focused on bringing a championship trophy to their side of the bay. When the Cavaliers lost Kyrie Irving for the series with a shattered knee cap, the trophy seemed closer than ever for Oakland; with the series tied at two games apiece, the Warriors face their biggest challenge of the season. Their fans remain resolute, and not just because they've seen their team work miracles all season long. There is just too much work to be done, and too much riding on this for Oakland, for doubt to creep in. The future is the future. This year, for the Warriors and for Oakland, is about making the most of the moment.