GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2026

Steve Kerr

Media Conference

STEVE KERR: I'll start out and turn it over to you guys. First, my first thought is how excited I am to be here. I can't wait to get started. It's been a long offseason, too long, not making the playoffs last year.

But I'm thrilled about starting the climb again, day one, and training camp. There's always a sense of excitement.

I feel really good about this team, and I'm really optimistic. I love our guys, and I think we have a chance to have a really good year. There's a lot of really good players and a lot of good energy with what we're doing right now.

So I'm excited, ready to go. I'll turn it over to you guys for questions.

Q. Steve, just off the bat here, Mike said KP is going to be out indefinitely. When did you find out about that, and what's your sense on it?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, Mike called me last night to tell me the news. It was surprising, but you know, this is all part of the season, the health of the team. Things happen, so you just roll, roll with it, and keep moving forward.

We don't really know what if means. I know Mike addressed the issue, so I don't have a whole lot of information for you, but we're going to get going with camp and fully expect him to be with us at some point.

There's not a whole lot to report at this time.

Q. Especially the KP news I know probably throws it into this into question, but how do you view the starting line-up, and how settled your rotation and particularly your starters are at this point heading forward?

STEVE KERR: I think that's what training camp is for. I mean, I've got an idea in my head of what we're going to be doing. As I said, I like the way this team fits together. We have some really good versatility and some new additions that I think can complement the group.

But you know, we owe it to ourselves as a staff and as a team to give these guys a couple of weeks before we start thinking about starting lineups and definitely before we say anything about it.

Q. Last time we talked to you you said that you couldn't do it again where you have players who can't play back-to-backs, that it's too hard to build continuity that way. I'm wondering, how do you view the roster currently in terms of bringing back a lot of the same players that couldn't play back-to-backs last year.

STEVE KERR: Well, I think we added guys this year who I think are going to give us a lot of depth, and I think the way we're going to approach this season is we're going to use everybody, including our two-way guys. We have to.

We took some swings this summer with some different possibilities, and they didn't pan out. Having been a GM before, I'm well aware that it's not as easy as just snapping your fingers. So the way we addressed it was adding to our depth.

I think some of our signings were maybe under the radar, but we have some guys who can really play and who have helped winning teams.

Then when I look at the Summer League and the work that our young players put in, you know, over the summer, I think we're going to be much deeper and more versatile than we were a year ago, and that's how we're going to attack that.

Q. You mentioned Summer League. How much did Yaxel's performance in the Summer League sort of give you faith that he can help right away? And how do you view that spot, the wing, with Jimmy and Moses out and Gui made some strides last year, how do you view that as you go into camp?

STEVE KERR: Yaxel had a great summer not only in Summer League, but in our building, pick-up games, individual work. He's clearly going to play a ton.

He gives us the size and the versatility that we need. He can guard bigs. He can guard wings. He's a connector on offense, really good passer, ball handler. I always try to check boxes with guys, evaluating them, dribble, pass, shoot, process. He checks all those boxes.

He's really an exciting young player for us, and he's going to play a ton. Whether he's a starter or coming off the bench, that will be determined the next couple of weeks.

Q. You and Draymond have now both kind of publicly talked about your new expectations for him going forward. How would you describe what you hope that he does differently this year?

STEVE KERR: I think what we have to do differently he plays right into. We have to reimagine our team this year. We can't be 28th in turnovers. We have to be more efficient. We have to win the possession battle. We have to win the game in the margins.

Draymond is one of the smartest basketball players I've ever been around, and he and I had really good discussions this summer about not only reimaging our team, but reimaging the way he plays. So we're on the same page with that.

I think you'll notice some things strategically. You know, he's a good three-point shooter. When he shoots threes, open threes, good things happen for us. He generally makes 1 out of 3, which from an efficiency standpoint is good, but we get offensive rebounds. There's a flow to the game.

What's changed I think most in the NBA and for us these last couple of years is the spacing. Draymond's first ten years we played with basically two bigs, you know, kind of played off the elbows. We're playing a more modern brand of basketball now, five-out. Draymond will find himself on the perimeter more. So that puts him in a slightly different role. Shooting, crashing, you know, spreading the floor for other people, dribble hand-off stuff. It's an adjustment for everybody, not just Draymond. Things that we really started to implement last year we're going to expand on this year.

Q. (Off microphone).

STEVE KERR: KP and Al have really provided us that spacing at that spot. That's important if you are playing, you know, the more modern style that we're looking at. So we know we're going to need Kristaps, and we feel very confident that we'll have him at some point. Al, of course, he's ready to go, and he'll provide that as well.

Q. At least externally this is probably the season of all the seasons you've been here with the least expectations. I'm just wondering how that might change for you internally in terms of, does it release the pressure cooker, give you some freedom, you know, that there isn't all this external expectation on this team?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, I don't mind the fact that everyone is picking us to miss the playoffs. You know, that's not a bad spot to be in as a team, as a coach.

For me what it means is we get to focus on the process. We just get to lock in on what we're trying to accomplish right from day one. You know, tomorrow morning we'll have a meeting with the team, and we'll lay out our expectations, our vision.

I feel strongly that if we just lock in on the process, the details, we're much more likely to be able to accomplish what we want to accomplish and put together momentum and build an identity and cut back on our turnovers, win the game in the margins. Those things aren't going to happen just by talking about them. They're only going to happen if we have a solid process day after day and develop into that team.

I think being under the radar allows us to do that a little bit easier.

Q. I'm wondering, how has your approach to coaching in general, but managing players with various lineups over the last dozen years, how has that changed for you in the last dozen years?

STEVE KERR: I do feel the game has changed and the staff size has changed. The number of support people we have here has changed. I would say it's practically tripled since 12 years ago when I started, when you talk about training staff, coaching staff, analytics, everything else. So in some ways the job feels more like a CEO position now than ever before, whereas early on it was much more in the weeds with the basketball detail. That's a function of the business booming and us adding people to try to address every single detail we can and give the players every opportunity to be the best they can be.

I feel great about our staff. We've got a lot of guys who are really accomplished. Adding Frank Vogel was a coup for us. He's one of the great defensive minds in the league, and he's had a lot of success as head coach, four different teams, a championship coach. Really excited.

But you look at it across the board, we have a lot of really sharp, young minds. As the game is changing, I feel like we are adapting to the people around me more so than it is me because that's how this works. The game changes; things change. You got to have people around you who can help you make that adaptation.

Q. On Yaxel, very cheerful, joyful guy. What conversations have you had about him, and what stood out about his personality to you?

STEVE KERR: He's really a fun-loving guy. You know, I think the fact that he's been on the journey that he's been on is really helpful. You know, he's 23. Spent a couple of years in junior college in Yuma. I used to drive from Yuma going from Tucson to L.A. in college.

If you've been in Yuma for a few years, you're going to be just fine in the Bay Area in the NBA. Nothing against people of Yuma.

I just like his journey. I just think that he's had to fight for everything. He won a national championship last year. He's been through a lot in his life, and he's in here every day. The last month a lot of our young guys have been around. I've literally had three different conversations with him telling him to get out of here for a few days because, you know, we're going to embark on this eight-month journey or so starting tomorrow. He just can't stay out of the gym. He wants to be great.

Like I said, I like who he is, and he's got a lot to learn about the NBA and how this all works, but he wants it. He's so thrilled to be here. So he's got a great approach.

Q. With Steph managing his knee this summer and then this season, do you see possibly scaling back the amount that you ask of Steph on the offensive side of the ball this year? Is that a conversation that's been had at all?

STEVE KERR: We're definitely going to manage his minutes as best we can. That will be a conversation with Rick. It's one of the reasons, frankly, we signed Brandon Williams. We felt like we needed some speed, quickness to break down the defense, particularly in the games that Steph misses.

I think LJ Cryer is also making big strides and has a chance to play. Like I mentioned, our two-way guys are a big part of our conversation.

I think the league has shown all of us that it's all about depth this year or this modern era much more so than about top-end talent. It's about having a lot of guys who can play. I feel really confident about that this year in terms of our roster.

We'll see how it goes with Steph, but we're going to manage his minutes, his load every day with Rick, and we'll be prepared for the games that he's not there.

Q. Steve, a few months ago you were out of here, you were done. When did the switch flip for you? When did you get into excited coach mode? Was that, like, yesterday?

STEVE KERR: (Laughing) I think, you know, going back to the end of last season, I think we all needed a few weeks to just let everything settle and see where we were. I started getting excited as soon as I resigned my contract because I saw the alignment and the agreement that this makes a lot of sense.

There was never a question about me loving my job. It was more a question of am I the right person for Joe, for Mike, for the team, where the team was at the end of last season and where it is now. That was the benefit of those few weeks was really hashing it out and coming to a conclusive, you know, sort of vision for, yeah, let's keep this thing going.

Like I said, I love my job. I love doing this every day, so I'm excited. The last couple of months we've had a really productive, I think, summer with the coaching staff for really reimaging how we're going to do things, what we're going to do, and that gets me going.

Q. Steve, does winning on the margins mean you're going to have to coach in-game differently? Are you going to have to be more hands-on, more time-outs? How does that manifest itself to win on the margins from your point of view where you've kind of maybe let things take shape with a more veteran team before?

STEVE KERR: I don't think it necessarily means more time-outs. I think it means changing the way we practice and changing the way we teach. I've talked to you guys about this, but practice time is so limited in today's game with games on the schedule every other day.

Part of what we've reimagined is how we teach. Whether that means more walk-throughs on the road, more film sessions, you know, different ways of teaching, but everything -- if you're going to win the game in the margins, it has to be out of habit. It's not me stopping the game and telling them you've got to do this, you've got to do that. It's our habits. It's our process, and that's why this training camp is so important.

Q. Were you able to spend any time around Kristaps when he was here I guess last few weeks? What was his mindset if you were, and just talk generally about plans you might have had that involved him and maybe the new efficiency you're looking for?

STEVE KERR: I saw him a couple of times this past week, you know, after he got back in town. Guys always start filtering in. The vets always start filtering in late in the summer. So Steph and Draymond, and Kristaps all kind of filtered in the last week or two. So I had a chance just to visit with him briefly a couple of times, but nothing in depth.

Yeah, this came as a surprise, but you know, we'll deal with it and move forward.

Q. Just kind of big-picture sense, when you talk about that vision and the conversations about you personally returning and you look at Steph even kind of taking a cut to return the way he did, when you put all these pieces together, you know, you, Steph, do you feel like there is a concrete vision for how you guys can still be competitive across the next couple of years, and particularly in the Western Conference with how OKC and San Antonio --

STEVE KERR: Yeah, we have an idea of what we're going to have to do, how we're going to have to play. Obviously you have to get some luck health-wise. Last year I didn't think we had great luck obviously with Jimmy and Moses suffering those devastating injuries, but I also didn't feel great about our process before they got injured.

We lost too many close games. We gave too many games away in the margins. We have a plan for that this year, and I've always believed if you really put together a good process, you build momentum, and you're more likely to get some breaks going your way.

So the vision for this year is to clean that stuff up and build some momentum and then we get those guys back. Last year we lost them in February, whatever it was, January. This year ideally we get them back, and we have them down the stretch and in the playoffs. That's a good feeling.

Q. I know you don't view Steph as, like, a flight risk or didn't, but how settling is it for you to hear that he did sign the extension, that storyline gets wiped away entering the season, and he did take a $10 million pay cut?

STEVE KERR: Yeah, it's great to get him resigned. I mean, we never doubted it for a minute. We knew he wanted to be here. Mike did a great job of working with Steph and Jeff Austin and finding the right path that helps the team as well as Steph.

So it's great to get that behind us and not have anything like that hanging over our head for the season.

Q. You talk about playing a more modern brand of basketball. I'm wondering how much has Seth been a part of that reimaging your offense?

STEVE KERR: Seth Cooper?

Q. Yes.

STEVE KERR: Seth is a big part of it. Nick has been a big part of it. Kris Weems. It's no accident all three of those guys were head coaches in Santa Cruz. The G League is where a lot of the concepts that you are seeing in the NBA are actually kind of germinating.

Last year we really started to change and transition to more five-out stuff personnel-wise, but also style-wise. I think this year will be much more comfortable with the way we're teaching it and the players will be more comfortable with how we're operating.

Yeah, a lot of our development coaches, Everett Dayton is our new player development director. Khalid Robinson coached the Summer League team to a championship. I'm leaning really hard on these guys and they're bringing a lot of really fresh ideas.

Q. Does that mean that Seth sort of picks up some of what Terry did last year, Stotts?

STEVE KERR: I think last year was kind of a transition from, you know, some of the ways we've played with two bigs to, you know, starting to expand to the five-out and find a good balance in there.

This year I would say we're leaning even more heavily into it with our drill work, with the spacing that we're teaching and the cutting. I think for us to cut back on our turnovers, you know, I had to look in the mirror. This is a staff-wide quest.

This is not, like, me having a meeting and telling our players, hey, we got to cut back on our turnovers. It's examining why. It's studying what we can do to help our players, and for us that meant spacing, cutting, giving the players patterns recognition to make the decision-making easier for them.

They're responsible for eliminating the silly ones. That's what we're looking at.

Q. You touched on this a little earlier, but expectations are different this season. How do you find success --

STEVE KERR: It might be coming. You know, last year I think I told the team in our first meeting, we're trying to win the championship. What's our goal? They all said, "championship." I think I even told them, we want a home court advantage in the playoffs.

You go to what we did last year with the injuries. You flip things over to this year, this summer. You decide, all right, we're going to reimagine everything. Part of that reimaging is you focus on the process every single day. I thought we slipped last year in some of our fundamental stuff. Even just team stuff, you know, being late a little bit. I think we've got to tighten things up.

I am 100% locked in on the process on how we're teaching every single day, and I firmly believe that if we do that from the beginning without even mentioning anything about expectations, then we're going to have a good season, and that's how I'm approaching things.

Q. You mentioned a bunch of the things that Yaxel does that can help the game. Is there a specific skill maybe that is better than you expected as you've watched him play more?

STEVE KERR: I think he just does everything really well. He's a really good passer, but he has a good feel for the game. You know, he asked me a couple of months ago, how can I earn the respect of the veterans? I'm, like, well, that question alone is a good start. You know, the fact that he's thinking that way.

But the best way for him to earn the respect of the veterans is actually the defensive end. He makes the right play all the time. So he's going fit right in offensively, but there's going to be moments where he and Draymond are on the frontline, switching. He has to get better at the rim. He has to understand NBA concepts, what he needs to do defensively. As he earns his teammates' respect on the defensive end, that's when we'll know he's really on the right track.

Q. To the subject of turnovers, you and I are old enough to remember when Steph's mom used to fine him for turnovers. I'm curious, what's your punishment when Steph turns the ball over?

STEVE KERR: My main punishment this year is I've always told Steph and Draymond that they're allowed to commit five or six between the two of them, and I've told them that in front of the team, because I always believed that they were the ones handling the ball the most.

Our team was built in such a way that I literally told everybody, all of you guys have to take care of the ball, they're allowed to turn it over six times. I'm not saying that in front of the group either. I'm not telling them, you're allowed these five or six. Both know that. I've told them that. They need to readjust their thinking because if we're going to win the game in the margins, that means your best players are in line with the vision and the process. So that's the only punishment right now.

Q. Brandin is extension eligible, and I know that's a Mike conversation, but how vital do you view his role on this team and in the grand scheme of the next decade?

STEVE KERR: Brandin is a huge part of our team. He makes people better. He understands the game. He does a lot of things well. You know, one of the things Frank said in our coaches meetings last week, he said Brandin is one of our best rim protectors. Everyone kind of looked at him.

When you take charges, you're a rim protector. You're keeping people from getting to the rim. We all think of rim protection as the 7-footers blocking shots or Draymond, but BP does a lot of things that lead to winning and the exciting thing is he has room to grow, and he's a crucial part of us getting better this year, winning the game in the margins, and then going forward for many years to come. So it's exciting.

Q. On that with how his offensive role expanded and changed down the last couple of months last year, how do you balance maybe the confidence that he gained from that, while also knowing that the roster has shifted a lot naturally with guys back in the fold and what it was when he was in that?

STEVE KERR: I thought the last couple of months last year, as tough as they were for our team, they were great for BP and Gui in particular, those two guys, because they were forced into play-making roles.

They both really, I thought, transformed into much better basketball players as a result, but this year going into the season we want to rely on that play-making that they can both provide, but also do it in a way that complements Steph, Jimmy when he gets back, limits the turnovers, makes us a more efficient team.

But in order to reach that point as a player, you have to be able to make some mistakes, and so that's why I thought the last couple of months were good for both guys.