Heading into their Christmas Day showdown against the Dallas Mavericks with a .500 record (15-15) 30 games into the 2025-26 season, isn't the kind of start the Golden State Warriors had in mind. Add a public confrontation between a head coach and Draymond Green, and one understands why Steve Kerr called the Warriors a fading dynasty.
To compound matters, the Warriors' youth isn't promising, as All-Star Stephen Curry, who's still playing at a high level, can't do it all, and Kerr has yet to establish a player rotation, as The Athletic's Nick Friedell noted.
“The Warriors are almost midway through the season and still can’t settle on a rotation. Golden State’s emotional leader, Draymond Green, left the bench for a stretch during Monday’s win over the Orlando Magic after a heated exchange with coach Steve Kerr,” Friedell wrote. “The Warriors have struggled to win games or even find a baseline consistency. They’ve struggled to develop younger players to supplement Curry’s greatness.
“At the start of the season, the Warriors felt that Curry, Green, Jimmy Butler, and Al Horford were lined up contractually to take two more swings at getting the organization one more title before Curry retired. As this season has played out, that idea seems far-fetched at best.”
The Warriors strung together a pair of wins against the Phoenix Suns, and will look to make it a three-game winning streak against the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day.
Steve Kerr's ‘fading dynasty' on 2025-26 Warriors
Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) walks past head coach Steve Kerr after fouling out in the second half of game six of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Article Continues Below
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr addressed his confrontation with Draymond Green, and expressed remorse for getting so upset. Kerr also added that he apologized to Green, and both relayed that apology to the rest of the team, he said, per The Athletic's Nick Friedell.
“I regret my actions in that exchange. I apologized to Dray, he apologized to me, we both apologized to the team,” Kerr said. “Like I said, not my finest hour. But I also know exactly who Draymond is, know exactly who I am: we want the exact same thing. That's a good thing. I think we're going to be fine, we're going to move forward from here, and I'm excited about what's ahead.”
Still, Kerr says there's beauty in the struggle.
“Where we are as a team, as an organization,” Kerr said. “The most important thing for me is for guys to recognize that there's beauty in the struggle. There's beauty in what we're trying to accomplish right now. We are no longer the 17′ warriors dominating the league. We are a fading dynasty; we know that. Everybody knows that.”
The Warriors will host the Mavericks on Thursday.