Though Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr previously described the team as a fading dynasty, he isn’t going down this season without a fight, despite franchise star Stephen Curry still out with a knee injury.
While Kerr recently gave a Curry injury update, hinting that the lifeblood of the team is ramping up for a return, he also pushed back on the notion that the Warriors should keep him out for the rest of the season and throw away this year in hopes of getting a top pick in the upcoming NBA draft lottery.
Speaking on The Tom Tolbert Show, Kerr said that he expects Curry to return soon and would rather have him back in hopes of making a potential playoff run rather than tanking for the rest of the season.
Steve Kerr Drops Major Steph Curry Quote Amid Injury Return
Golden State hasn’t been a top title contender all season, even when Curry was healthy, but that doesn’t mean Kerr is ready to punt on this season and instead focus on the 2026-27 campaign.
When speaking on his weekly radio show appearance, the four-time champion leading the Warriors from the bench said that he has the same response when asked about holding Curry out from his injury return.
“When people ask me about this year, and I’ve been asked this a few times, why don’t you just rest Steph the rest of the year? Well, he’s healthy, we’re competing, that’s what we do,” he said. “And we want to give ourselves a chance, and like, that’s the whole point. The beauty is in the quest, it’s in the work. And when you do fail, it’s hard to get over it.”
Despite his brutal outlook on the team in the past, Kerr believes that, with the franchise star back, this roster has the chance to make some noise in the postseason.
Recently, Warriors’ skipper also gave an injury update on Curry, signaling that the three-point specialist and team leader could come back soon.
“He’s trending in the right direction,” Kerr said. “He’s ramped up his workouts. The reason he’s on the trip is because he now needs extra bodies, people to play with and we’ll be doing that over the course of this road trip over the next week.”
“The hope is he’ll be able to scrimmage by the end of the trip, but it’s literally day-to-day,” he added.
Curry has been out since late January with ‘runner’s knee,‘ and while the previous updates pushed any potential return back even further, the overarching sentiment is that he’ll get back on the court soon.
Steve Kerr Blasts Warriors Fans For Tanking Suggestion Amid Loaded Injury Report
Along with pushing back on the notion that Golden State should sit Curry for the rest of the year, as their 33-35 record, along with many other injury concerns, point to the fact that any potential championship hopes should be thrown out the window, he doesn’t see it that way.
In another one of his weekly radio hits, this time on 95.7 The Game, Kerr responded to Warriors fans, saying that it’s not worth it to try to make a playoff push considering the other top teams in the West and the strength of their current healthy roster.
“So we should just quit? What is the point of what we’re doing? It’s competition,” he said. “Every opportunity you have to make the playoffs, you want it because you always have a chance…I don’t understand the concept of ‘let’s just not try to win.’ That makes no sense to me.”
Regardless of Kerr’s claim, any chances of the Warriors making a deep playoff run, with Curry or not, remain slim.
While the team waits on an injury return for the franchise star, they also have Jimmy Butler, Seth Curry, Al Horford, Gary Payton, Quinten Post, LJ Cryer, and Moses Moody all listed on the injury report.
Draymond Green has bounced back and forth with nagging injuries, while Kristaps Porzingis has yet to play more than three games in a row for Golden State. However, with the latter, he doesn’t have an injury designation, and there is hope that he’s finally gotten over the ‘mystery illness‘ that clouded his early tenure with the franchise.
Still, while Kerr doesn’t see tanking as a viable solution to the Warriors’ major problems this season, that doesn’t mean getting Curry back will fix what has been a tumultuous and overall disappointing season, despite how impactful the 38-year-old is for them when healthy.
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