Shaun Livingston joined the Warriors at a wild time in his career.
He was coming off perhaps the best year of his injury-marred career. Livingston played 76 games with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2013-14 season, which was a career high at the time. The veteran point guard also averaged 8.3 points per game, his best clip since 2006-07, the year he sustained a career-threatening leg injury.
Livingston then signed a three-year, $16 million contract with the Warriors in July 2014 to be Steph Curry's primary backup. This was a team flush with potential thanks to the likes of Curry, Klay Thompson, the gradual emergence of Draymond Green and a strong start to Harrison Barnes' career. Golden State also had just fired their head coach, Mark Jackson, and replaced him with Steve Kerr, who didn't have any previous coaching experience.
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The rest is history. Livingston clearly signed with the right team, as the Warriors beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals to be crowned champions in his first year with Golden State.
"I don't think anybody expected what came about, especially that first year," Livingston said Tuesday on 95.7 The Game's "The Morning Roast." "Winning the championship our first year out there -- well my first year -- in '14-15 and really getting that notch in our belt, it really changed all of our lives, our careers, our trajectories. Any time you go through a championship run or playoff run or spend years together with anybody, the relationships that are forged and built ... I think you talk about a brotherhood that's kind of been built through that run.
"That's the things we kind of look back on."
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Golden State Warriors
Everything changed for the Warriors after that first title, and that's especially true for Livingston. While many believed his career would be over after his ugly leg injury, the lanky point guard wound up winning three rings with the Warriors and signed two contracts that set his family up for life.
Livingston retired after the 2018-19 season, putting a bow to a miraculous 14-year career in the NBA. The Warriors changed his career, and now he's back in the Bay. Livingston joined Kerr's staff this offseason, becoming the Warriors' director of player affairs and engagement.
There's no doubt winning a ring with the Warriors brought Livingston a life he never imagined, and he certainly isn't alone there.