It is believed that you need both skill and a little bit of luck to win a championship, especially in the NBA. The eight month journey to June can be grueling, intense, and exhausting. Fatigue creeps in on an unsuspecting team and the plague of injuries hits them swiftly and definitively. The Golden State Warriors, though, are now champions in three of the last four years, and, in addition to their unquestionable skill, are recipients of perhaps the most luck in history.

Injuries are a part of the game. The well-known expression rings true for every team in sports. But the laundry list of injuries that that have helped the Warriors win their championships is uncanny. It starts with their own.

Stephen Curry

In 2012, three years after he was drafted, numerous questions swirled around Stephen Curry's ability to stay healthy. He had two surgeries on his ankles, multiple sprains, and he missed the final 40 games of the previous season due to injury. Could he stay healthy enough to develop? Was he worth giving a contract extension to?

The Warriors ultimately decided to give Curry a four-year, $44 million extension from his rookie contract. The $11 million per year was a safe bet for a player who hadn't shown his worth yet. For comparison, Blake Griffin, also in the 2009 draft, signed an extension with the Clippers a few months earlier for $19 million a year.

Stephen Curry, Warriors

Curry's bargain contract paid massive dividends, as he blossomed into a two-time MVP and led the Warriors to a championship and back-to-back Finals appearances in the four years of his contract extension.

By the time the 2016-17 season ended, the Warriors had a two-time MVP who was the fourth-highest paid player on the team. It was unheard of, but it also paved the way for them to sign contract extensions for Klay Thompson and Draymond Green through the years. And it ultimately opened the door financially to sign a superstar like Kevin Durant in the 2017 offseason.

Curry's extension in 2012, which was a big risk for the Warriors to gamble on an injury-prone Curry, proved to be a foundational piece in the Warriors building their dynasty.

Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, Warriors

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love

In the 2015 Finals, the Warriors played the Cleveland Cavaliers in what was to be the first of many meetings. The Warriors, who had just come off of a surprising 67-win season, were to face LeBron James and the Cavs. With his new “Big Three” back home in Cleveland, LeBron gelled well with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love en route to 53 wins and a number two seed.

But with Kevin Love lost to a season-ending injury in the first round, many thought this just wasn't the Cavs' year. Still, a determined LeBron and a young Kyrie Irving propelled them right past the first-seeded Atlanta Hawks to reach the Finals. The Warriors, meanwhile, were quickly becoming the darlings of the NBA with their baby-faced star and their team-first brand of basketball. When the two teams clashed in the Finals, many thought it would be a great series, especially with Game 1 going to OT.

Steve Kerr, Andre Iguodala, Warriors

However, Kyrie Irving went down with a fractured knee in that Game 1 overtime, and just like that, the Cavs were forced to deal with life without their All-Star power forward and their All-Star point guard. Some superhuman performances by LeBron James earned the Cavs two wins in the series, but with Matthew Dellavedova now being arguably the second-best player on the team, LeBron didn't have the support he needed. The Warriors won in six.

What would've happened had Kyrie and Kevin Love been healthy is a what-if that will forever haunt the Cavs. Though he may be biased, Kyrie Irving certainly believes that the Cavaliers would've won a championship that year had it not been for injuries. Regardless, the up-and-coming Warriors got their first title, and momentum into the future.

Warriors, Andre Iguodala

Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala

The Warriors returned to the grand stage in the 2016 Finals after a league-wrecking 73 wins. They looked all but assured to win their second title in as many years. But a re-match against the Cavs in the Finals didn't quite go as planned. After famously having a three games to one lead, Andrew Bogut went down in Game 5 and was lost for the rest of the series. With no rim protector and with Warriors backup Festus Ezeli not nearly the same defensive monster as Bogut, LeBron and Kyrie attacked the rim at will in the final three games.

In addition, Andre Iguodala, typically the Warriors' go-to player for guarding LeBron, injured his back in Game 6 and was not the same player defensively the rest of Game 6 or in the pivotal Game 7. While their comeback should be credited to the Cavs' resilience and never-quit mentality, Cleveland can also thank Bogut and Iguodala's injuries.

stephen curry, andre iguodala

In addition, Steph Curry hobbled all series recovering from an MCL sprain and couldn't get past Kevin Love in the final minute of Game 7. Like any champion, a mix of skill and luck with injuries paved the path for the Cavs' title.

While this may seem like some rare bad luck for the Warriors, had it not been for those injuries, the Warriors would have won that championship. And in doing so, they would have all but lost out on the Kevin Durant sweepstakes in the offseason. But with the injuries and with the Cavs' miracle comeback, Kevin Durant joined the Warriors and won them the next two championships, with the potential for more on the way.

Would the Warriors have continued to win titles with an aging Bogut past his prime and Harrison Barnes, who was still trying to fully develop? We may never know, but Kevin Durant, for one, was glad that the Warriors lost in the 2016 Finals. Their own injuries unknowingly paved the way for KD to create a new super team out west, and to help them reach new heights of basketball greatness.

Kawhi Leonard, Spurs

Kawhi Leonard

The following year, the 2017 Western Conference Finals was supposed to be a true test for the new Warriors super team. The first-seeded Warriors were facing the second-seeded Spurs, and the 61-win Spurs, led by Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, were going to be a tall task for the Warriors.

In Game 1, the Spurs looked dominant, building a 25-point lead in the first half. With 26 points and eight rebounds, Kawhi Leonard looked unstoppable. That is, until he landed awkwardly on Zaza Pachulia's foot coming down from a shot. Kawhi was declared out for the rest of the game, and later, the rest of the series.

The former Finals MVP was critical to the Spurs' success, and without him, the Warriors came back to win Game 1, and swept the Spurs in the next three games. With Leonard's strong play and Gregg Popovich's genius basketball mind, the Spurs would have given the Warriors a run for their money. Instead, the Warriors entered the Finals 12-0 and defeated the Cavs in five games to win their second title in three years.

Chris Paul

Chris Paul

While the Spurs can only imagine what might've happened had Kawhi stayed healthy, the Houston Rockets got closer than anyone not named LeBron to beating the Warriors in the 2018 Conference Finals. James Harden and Chris Paul had led the Rockets to a number one seed in the Western Conference, the first time since the '13-14 season that the Warriors were not the top seed in the West.

The Rockets believed that no team could stop the Warriors on defense, but it was possible to outscore them. The Rockets came out of the gates blazing in the '17-18 season, and ended the year with the league's top offensive rating, even above the Warriors. Their clash in the Western Conference Finals did not disappoint. The Rockets had a three games to two advantage over the Warriors through five games.

While the Rockets offense certainly wasn't complex, the Warriors were unable to stop James Harden and Chris Paul from driving at will and either finishing or finding open teammates for three. With the Warriors on the brink of elimination, Golden State received another stroke of luck with Chris Paul's hamstring injury in the final minute of Game 5.

James Harden, Chris Paul

The injury caused Paul to miss Game 6 and 7, both possible opportunities for the Rockets to advance to the Finals. But the Rockets had lost an engine, and Harden didn't have enough in the tank to carry the team on his back. The Warriors won both games and then swept the Cavs to finish off their third championship in four years.

While the Warriors will be in the conversation as one of the greatest teams of all time, it's been strokes of luck that have aided them in their four-year dynasty. Their skill and talent is undeniable. They boast two MVP's and four All-Stars, with a fifth All-Star in waiting. But some critics will forever see their dynastic run marred by the streak of injuries that have helped the Warriors.

Are they the luckiest team in NBA history? Perhaps. But it's well believed that you need both skill and a little bit of luck to win a championship. The Warriors have had plenty of both.