In today’s Dub Hub:
- Steve Kerr acknowledges he has to “be better” during his first media availability back with the Warriors.
- General manager Mike Dunleavy discusses the state of the Warriors heading into the offseason.
- Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named NBA MVP for 2025-26 regular season.
Steve Kerr is returning to the Golden State Warriors, but he made one thing very clear while discussing his decision to stay.
Speaking with reporters on Friday, Kerr openly admitted that the Warriors are no longer the championship-caliber team they once were and that he, personally, needs to be better as a coach after the team finished the season with a record of 37-45 and missed the playoffs.
“I know I have to be better,” Kerr said in his first media availability since agreeing to return on a multi-year contract with Golden State. “I didn’t have a great coaching year.”
The most pressing issue that both Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. specifically want to improve are turnovers. The Warriors finished the regular season tied with the Washington Wizards for the third-most turnovers per game in the NBA at 15.7. For comparison, the Oklahoma City Thunder had the fewest in the Western Conference averaging just 12.6 turnovers per game. Kerr emphasized that cleaning up those mistakes will be a major focus heading into next season.
While it may have been easy to blame last season entirely on injuries or roster limitations, Kerr instead chose to take accountability for it himself. Now, the challenge becomes whether he and the Warriors front office can successfully address those issues and help guide the Warriors back toward contention while maximizing what remains of the Stephen Curry era.
For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Monday, May 18th:
Warriors News:
Steve Kerr, Warriors admit needing ‘younger legs’ as early NBA draft pick looms | NBC Sports Bay Area
“I think the last couple of years, frankly, have been difficult with the age, the collective age of our team – the injuries,” Kerr said. “I think we had like six guys this year who either couldn’t play back-to-backs or were on minutes restrictions, often at the same time.
“I think I really, frankly, gave everyone too much leeway this year. It just felt like we were constantly resting everybody and just trying to survive to the next game and have enough healthy bodies.”
Warriors expect Draymond Green to return but acknowledge ‘ball is in his court’ | The Athletic
“I think we have had discussions where we want him to finish his career (as) a Warrior,” Dunleavy said Friday. “He kind of feels the same way. I would expect him to be back, but it’s his call on that.”
Green has a player option for just over $27 million next season that he can exercise to remain with the franchise, though the Warriors could ask Green to decline the option and work out a longer-term contract with a lower annual salary. If the Warriors want to acquire a star in a trade, they would likely need to use Green’s contract to match salaries. But it remains to be seen how the next few months unfold.
Mike Dunleavy Press Conference | Offseason Preview
NBA News:
Donovan Mitchell embraces his moment, finally breaks through to conference finals | The Athletic
Their 125-94 victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday finally allowed Mitchell to claim his seat in a long-coveted conference final.
The Cavs hadn’t reached a conference final without LeBron James since 1992. Mitchell has never been there, so it would be disingenuous to look past the impact of this night. It meant so much to an organization that has been haunted by James’ ghost and to Mitchell, who has been haunted by his own failures. No longer.
“A breath of fresh air,” Mitchell acknowledged after the game. “It’s been almost a decade and I’m running into the same issue. I, personally, and as a team, we can breathe a little bit … but we can only breathe for about 12 hours.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins named this year’s MVP
In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:
Steve Kerr is a secret Taylor Swift fan
Thursday, Wright Thompson’s feature on Kerr for ESPN revealed that a few seasons ago, the coach had starting working the lyrics from “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift into his postgame comments to the media. Kerr crossed off lyrics when he had used them and eventually his son, Matthew, who is on the writing staff for “Rooster,” edited all the Swiftie moments into one video that made it look like Kerr was reciting the whole song.
Follow @unstoppablebaby on X for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.
