The Golden State Warriors might have been the last team to qualify for the playoffs, but they also could be the last team standing come June.

Yes, again.

The Warriors will begin their quest for a fifth title in eight years Saturday night in Sacramento (5:30 p.m., KGO-TV). And while the team’s 44-38 record in the regular season left plenty to be desired, the Dubs are confident and eager for the “real” season.

The path to the title will not be easy — the Warriors’ regular-season struggles cannot be discounted. At the same time, the Western Conference could easily be turned upside-down and still make sense.

After so many seasons in which the Warriors were an obvious choice to win the title, these playoffs have a chance to be chaotic.

But if we’ve learned one thing about the Warriors, it’s that they thrive in chaos.

They live for it.

“You feel it more than you see it,” Warriors guard Jordan Poole said of the intensity of the playoffs. “How possessions matter, play calls, missed shots, fouls, or turnovers — you feel the magnitude… Those who like to play in the bright lights thrive in situations like that and look forward to them.”

Top Las Vegas sportsbooks have the Warriors as the No. 2 favorite to win the Western Conference, trailing only the Phoenix Suns, led by former Warrior great Kevin Durant.

If the Dubs make good on that bet, it will be Golden State’s seventh NBA Finals appearance since coach Steve Kerr was hired before the start of the 2014-15 season, further cementing Golden State’s status as one of the greatest teams in modern sports history.

There’s more on the line for the Warriors than just a trophy this spring.

Related Articles

• Golden State Warriors |
  Klay Thompson’s revival: Fiery competitive nature ignited by doubters
• Golden State Warriors |
  Warriors vs. Kings: Andrew Wiggins “feels fresh” in time for first round
• Golden State Warriors |
  Warriors youngster Jonathan Kuminga is poised to soar in the 2023 NBA Playoffs
• Golden State Warriors |
  How the Warriors can shed road woes with easier travel to Sacramento
• Golden State Warriors |
  Warriors bringing Wiggins off bench would mimic 2022 Curry plan

With new league rules set to further punish big-spending teams, the Warriors could be the last NBA dynasty.

And if the Warriors don’t win this postseason, it could well bring about the breakup of the team’s dynastic core, as Draymond Green could opt into free agency this summer, and league luxury tax costs could chase him from Chase Center.

No pressure, right?

More grim news: After a charmed path to the NBA Finals last season — everything seemed to break just right for the Dubs — the Warriors’ path in these playoffs could prove treacherous.

After a half-decade of Warriors dominance, the NBA wanted parity. The Warriors haven’t quite cooperated, but the rest of the league has upped its game. The Warriors’ possible playoff opponents are a who’s-who of the NBA’s best.

The Warriors will start in Sacramento. And despite this being the Kings’ first playoff appearance since 2006 — the first iPhone was still eight months from being released the last time they were in the playoffs — Sacramento is no joke. Led by former Warriors top assistant coach Mike Brown, the Kings posted the greatest offensive season in NBA history, averaging 120 points on 104 possessions per game.

The Kings will test the Warriors’ defense from the opening tip of Game 1. If Green and company can’t slow down that historic attack, the Warriors might find themselves in the unenviable position of having to go basket-for-basket with Sacramento, all while lacking home-court advantage.

The Warriors should advance past the Kings, though — they are a far more complete team.

But, as you’d expect, the challenge will only increase from there. The Warriors will face either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round.

That’s the Warriors’ old rival — LeBron James — or their new rivals — the trash-talking, always-complaining, Warrior-hating, rough-and-tumble Grizzlies.

Again, the Warriors are markedly better than both teams, but that doesn’t mean either opponent will fail to exact a price from the champs along the way, or maybe even beat them.

If the Warriors can advance to the Western Conference finals, they might get a break — in the form of the No. 1 seed Denver Nuggets, whom the Warriors dispatched in five games in last year’s first round.

But they might also face Durant and the Suns, in a series between two titan teams that will be seeping in emotion and will carry an NBA Finals-level of national interest.

It’s exhausting to think about navigating all that just to reach the Finals, where the best of the East — the league’s better conference this season — looms.

In all likelihood, that means either the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA’s best team this year, led by arguably the best player in the world, Giannis Antetokounmpo; the Philadelphia 76ers, led by this year’s presumed MVP Joel Embiid; or the Boston Celtics, last year’s opponent in the Finals.

If the Warriors can win another title, it’ll be the team’s most impressive championship yet.

And it will come after as unimpressive of a regular season as this team has had in its dynastic, healthy seasons.

So did the Warriors spend the last six months teasing the rest of the league into a false sense of possibility, or are they genuinely vulnerable?

Or, to ask another way: Will the Warriors be raising another trophy in June, or will we be raising a glass to one hell of a run?

Tonight is the first step on the road to finding out.