On the heels of an encouraging 48-win campaign in 2024-25 that culminated in a second-round playoff exit, the Golden State Warriors have gotten off to a fairly mediocre start to their encore 2025-26 run.
Golden State team president Mike Dunleavy Jr. bizarrely decided not to sign or trade for a traditional veteran center over the summer, with head coach Steve Kerr hoping to lean on 6-foot-6 power forward Draymond Green playing small-ball five. New signing Al Horford, 39, has been fairly underwhelming off the bench. Young centers Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis just don’t have the strength or physicality to handle the position in a starting role.
Without that frontcourt edge, the Warriors have had to lean, heavily on their three aging stars. 35-year-old Green, 36-year-old Jimmy Butler, and 37-year-old Stephen Curry might all be future Hall of Famers, but it’s a bit unfair to rely on them to carry so much of the load this year.
At times, tensions have simmered over publicly between Green and Kerr this year. A 10-time All-Defensive Teamer, Green has occasionally gotten into arguments with Kerr and his teammates on the sidelines during games. He once got into a heated spat with former superstar Golden State forward Kevin Durant that may have finalized his decision to leave in free agency. Most infamously, in a behind-the-scenes moment, Green once punched then-Warriors guard Jordan Poole in the face during a training camp workout. Poole was eventually traded.
The latest public conflict was a clash with Kerr during the third quarter of an eventual 120-97 blowout victory over the Orlando Magic on Dec. 22. A win against one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams should have been a celebratory moment, but instead it was a cause for friction and speculation.
In a timeout, Green and Kerr appeared to get into a heated debate. Eventually, Green stormed off, leaving the Warriors’ bench and heading for the locker room.
While appearing on “The Tom Tolbert Show,” Kerr explained the moment during a conversation with host Tolbert.
"Draymond was talking to the refs, and I had called a timeout because I thought we lost our focus," Kerr told Tolbert. "And I wasn't mad at him, but he was talking to the ref for a long time, and then I see five of our players over there trying to bring him back and he had been ejected the night before. So I started yelling his name, ‘Draymond! Draymond!' Basically just telling him to, asking him to get to the huddle.
"He thought I was yelling at him because of a turnover he had just made, and so he says something snarky, I say something back snarky, and next thing you know, we're yelling at each other,” Kerr explained. “We're at each other's throats, and then it all comes to bear.”
The fact that these two fiery personalities have been able to coexist since 2014-15 is a bit of a shock. But they have, and it’s yielded six NBA Finals appearances and four championships.
"But I should have been calmer at that time,” Kerr said. “Like, I know Draymond so well and there's always a buildup to these things, and he's such an emotional player and passionate player and he had been frustrated for a couple of days, and I recognized that, but I needed to recognize it and do something about it in the huddle. I needed to be the calming force, and so we went back and forth and I regretted not being the calming one in that conversation."
Green, for his part, attempted to explain his rationale for simply walking away from the team during a fairly critical mid-game moment.
"Tempers spilled over, and I thought it was best that I get out of there," Green said after the confrontation, per Anthony Slater of ESPN. "I don't think it was a situation where it was going to get better. It was best to remove myself."
Jimmy Butler, Al Horford and Buddy Hield all kept tabs on Green during the third quarter, per Slater. He eventually rejoined the Warriors bench in the fourth frame. Kerr never put him back on the court.
At 18-17 on the year, the Warriors are currently the No. 8 seed in the West. A trade for a center could save their season - and maybe save them from falling into these frivolous courtside arguments.
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