How Silicon Valley found its favorite team: the NBA champion Golden State Warriors

AP

Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, from left, guard Stephen Curry and forward Kevin Durant celebrate after Game 5 of basketball's NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., Monday, June 12, 2017. The Warriors won 129-120 to win the NBA championship.

It's a good time to be a Golden State Warriors fan.

The Stephen Curry- and Kevin Durant-led professional basketball team just won the NBA Championship, after a 16-1 playoff run, beating the rival Cleveland Cavaliers, who the Warriors have faced in the finals for three straight years.

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The Warriors broke the NBA's regular-season wins record last year, winning 73 games and losing only nine. The previous record holder was the 1995-1996 Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls.

The Warriors have won two NBA championships over the past three seasons. Their dominant run over the past three years has been a source of great pride for its famously loyal and raucous fans. But it's also created a lot of new fans among the Silicon Valley techie crowd.

What many of the bandwagon fans might not know is that the Warriors used to be the league's laughingstock for years and years.

Here's a look back at the Warriors' tortured past:

Eugene Kim contributed to a previous version of this article.