Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr - the longest-tenured head coach in the league this side of the Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra - has finally made his feelings known about his team’s intense early season schedule this year.
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Kerr recently hopped on 95.7 FM The Game’s “Willard & Dibs,” hosted by Mark Willard and Dan Dibley, to unpack Golden State’s brutal early-season schedule.
With an NBA-geriatric roster led by 37-year-old Stephen Curry, 36-year-old Jimmy Butler, and 35-year-old Draymond Green (39-year-old Al Horford, the club’s prized free agent signing this summer, has been in an abysmal slump off the bench), Kerr has been exercising caution when it comes to playing the vets on back-to-back slates of games.
All three of Butler, Curry, and Green sat out against Butler’s old club, the Miami Heat, in a blowout 110-96 loss on Wednesday.
“The Miami game will be our 17th game in 29 days in 13 different cities,” Kerr said ahead of that matchup. “It’s been the toughest early schedule I’ve ever been a part of in my entire NBA life. I think our guys have held up remarkably well, but there’s definitely some considerations to make with this back-to-back and then coming back with Portland on Friday.”
Despite playing all three of his stars on Friday, Kerr still saw the Warriors fall at Chase Center to the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-123. The Warriors appear to have the same weaknesses they did in 2024-25: a lack of frontcourt size. 7-footer Quinten Post and the 6-foot-9 Horford and Trayce Jackson-Davis lack the physicality or athleticism needed to stop big, young, lengthy squads like Portland.
The 6-foot-6 Green is currently Kerr’s preferred starter at the five spot. Although he’s still a solid defender in his relative dotage, Green’s obvious height disparity against players like 7-foot-2 Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan or 7-foot-5 San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has been a bit of an issue.
Still, Curry and Butler are looking like All-Stars for the 9-9 Warriors.
Against Portland, Curry scored a game-high 38 points on 14-of-23 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 shooting from the foul line, while also chipping in four assists and two rebounds. Butler, meanwhile, had 20 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 shooting from the charity stripe, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block.
“It never gets old just the way he kind of goes about the game, constantly in search of that flow, that zone. The way he plays, the fact that he can shoot every which way - off the dribble, off the catch, flying off of screens. But he’s in constant search for that rhythm, and when he’s in rhythm, that’s when we’re at our best,” Kerr said Wednesday. “And I thought we really found our rhythm these last few games as it relates to doing everything we can to enhance our best players: Steph, Jimmy, Draymond. That’s what it’s got to be. That’s the way we’re going to win. That’s how it has always worked in the NBA. You get the guys at the top of the food chain to play at their best by supporting them and making sure we’ve got the right flow, the right rhythm. That’s what wins in this league.”
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