Warriors were somewhat of a cult follow in the 20 years between Run TMC and the Curry era, except for a couple seasons in the late 00s where a ton of people came out of the woodwork for the 07 playoffs. Those who did like the warriors were diehards because why else would you watch such a shit team year after year. They had strong attendance numbers but the overall fan support wasnt widespread, especially outside of the east bay, where support for them has always been a bit stronger.

I'd argue the Lakers were more popular in many parts of the Bay, i mean Kobe used to get pretty loud MVP chants at Oracle. They were at best the 4th most popular team in the Bay despite being one of the only teams where fandom wasnt split between Oakland and SF. Now they're easily number 1.