{"id":2022322,"date":"2026-07-01T22:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2022322"},"modified":"2026-07-01T22:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:05:16","slug":"the-problem-steve-kerr-was-hoping-to-avoid-is-back-even-if-the-warriors-sign-lebron-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2022322","title":{"rendered":"The problem Steve Kerr was hoping to avoid is back. Even if the Warriors sign LeBron James"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 When Steve Kerr signed a two-year extension last month, he outlined a clear goal for the Golden State Warriors heading into the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

After spending the previous year managing one of the NBA\u2019s oldest rosters, Kerr wanted more continuity in the lineup. Too often, he and his staff had to accept that there would be nights when veterans Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford, De\u2019Anthony Melton (recovering from an ACL injury the previous year) and trade deadline acquisition Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is would have to sit out and rest.<\/p>\n

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Kerr trusts Warriors vice president of player health and performance Rick Celebrini and his staff completely. After four decades around the NBA, he also understands just how tough the grind of an 82-game season can be. But he also knew how difficult it would be to juggle an aging roster, especially when he has to constantly wonder who actually might be available on any given night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think it\u2019s important that we don\u2019t have the vast number of players who couldn\u2019t play back-to-back,\u201d Kerr said at a news conference on May 15. \u201cWe can\u2019t do that again. It\u2019s too hard to build continuity. We need some younger legs for sure. We know that. How do you do that? It\u2019s a difficult job. So that\u2019s up to Mike (Dunleavy), and obviously he will consult with me on moves, and we\u2019ll hash that stuff out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very strongly that what we have here is something special and strong, and despite the injuries, we can have a year where we get back in the hunt, and I\u2019m confident of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"For<\/p>\n
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\n For Steve Kerr, the culture he built with Warriors was too hard to leave behind\n <\/div>\n
\n After weeks of talks between Kerr and Warriors ownership, both sides reached the same conclusion: they\u2019re better together than apart.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

A month and a half later, the Warriors are running it back largely with the same roster that ended last season. That reality came clearer on Wednesday after the organization came to terms with Melton on a two-year deal, as The Athletic\u2019s<\/i> David Aldridge reported. Outside of draft additions Yaxel Lendeborg and Lajae Jones, the Warriors are on track to deal with many of the same issues Kerr was hoping to avoid.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s before we find out whether 41-year-old LeBron James will come to the Bay to team up with Curry and Green for one final run.<\/p>\n

If the Warriors stick with this same roster heading into the regular season, Kerr is going to have to do what he didn\u2019t do last season. He\u2019s essentially going to have create two separate teams within the same roster. Almost like a split squad that a baseball team uses during spring training. There will be one team \u2014 made up of Brandin Podziemski, Will Richard, Gui Santos, Lendeborg, Jones and whichever other players Dunleavy decides to fill up the roster with \u2014 and then a veteran group made up of Curry, Green, Horford, Porzingis, Melton, potentially James \u2014 and maybe one more veteran the Warriors add between now and then. The second group isn\u2019t going to play both sides of every back-to-back and its minutes will have to be managed, especially early in the year.<\/p>\n

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As much as Kerr was fighting against the idea of carrying another roster full of players who wouldn\u2019t play both sides of a back-to-back, the moves the Warriors made make sense from a basketball standpoint. Kerr loves Melton and appreciates that he can fit into a variety of different lineups. He respects Horford and the way he carries himself on and off the floor. The 40-year-old big man played in just 45 games last season, but the fit was clear. Whether Horford can stay on the floor remains one of the biggest questions heading into a new year. The same goes for Porzi\u0146\u0123is, who proved to be a fit in his brief 15-game stint with the Warriors. He appears to be a strong complement to Curry and Green, but his health will continue to be a lingering issue hovering over this group.<\/p>\n

If James indeed signs with the Warriors, he immediately makes the team more competitive \u2014 and a lot more interesting \u2014 but his addition adds to the same quandary that Kerr and his staff spent all season trying to work out. Kerr can mix and match lineups as he did a year ago and give players an extra night when they need a break. After all, the Warriors aren\u2019t going to ask James to carry them through some mid-December game in Milwaukee. Horford, Porzingis and Jimmy Butler, assuming he returns at some point next season from an ACL injury, were brought in specifically to give Curry one more chance to compete for a title. That would also be the case for James.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Why<\/p>\n
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\n Why LeBron James joining Steph Curry on the Warriors would make sense for his final chapter\n <\/div>\n
\n LeBron James unquestionably makes the Warriors better, but the real story is how Golden State can make it work.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

What the Warriors were reminded of last season is the same lesson they\u2019ve learned repeatedly in recent years: If you fall too far down the Western Conference standings in the regular season, the price to pay is steep. It\u2019s the extra games it takes to get out of the Play-In Tournament. The postseason road is difficult enough without a couple extra games where veterans have to exert themselves for heavy minutes. Kerr knows this, and it\u2019s why he said what he did in May while discussing roster construction. The chance to add James and run it back with a group of trusted veterans on reasonable contacts proved to be too much to change the collective thinking of the group, though.<\/p>\n

Kerr and Dunleavy\u2019s goal of getting younger pieces on the roster likely won\u2019t be achieved \u2014 at least not the way they envisioned it. But depending on what happens over the next few days, the Warriors may have actually gotten better if James signs on the dotted line.<\/p>\n

Just like they did last season, the Warriors\u2019 younger players are going to have plenty of opportunities to show they belong. They\u2019ll once again have time to play through their mistakes on a team that remains heavily reliant on a group of older core that won\u2019t be available every night. That isn\u2019t exactly the way Kerr drew it up \u2014 but it\u2019s the tradeoff the Warriors appear willing to make in hopes of landing one of the greatest players of all time.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"LeBron<\/p>\n
\n
\n LeBron James\u2019 next team? Here\u2019s the case for six potential landing spots\n <\/div>\n
\n Home to Cleveland? Join Steph and Draymond in the Bay Area? Return to South Beach? Where should LeBron take his talents next?\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 When Steve Kerr signed a two-year extension last month, he outlined a clear goal for the Golden State Warriors heading into the 2026-27 season. After spending the previous year managing one of the NBA\u2019s oldest rosters, Kerr wanted more continuity in the lineup. Too often, he and his staff had to accept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2022322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2022322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2022322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2022322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2022322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}