SAN FRANCISCO — As the Golden State Warriors continue to search for continuity amid an up-and-down season, coach Steve Kerr remains steadfast in his belief that his team has the answers it needs within his current roster. As the veteran coach continues to field questions about his 13-14 team, he does so believing that, unlike a season ago when they went through a similar malaise prior to trading for Jimmy Butler just before the 2025 trade deadline, the Warriors don’t have to make a move to get back on track.
“It feels similar in that we’re inconsistent,” Kerr said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’re around .500, but I know that we have the answer here. Last year I felt like we had to make a move. This year I don’t think that’s the case. I think we have what we need here, but we need to develop more consistency in our play and that starts with me, giving these guys more consistent roles.”
In a season marked by inconsistency and injuries, Kerr and his coaching staff still can’t find the right pairings to use alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler. As the Warriors head into Thursday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, the player outside that trio who has generated the most interest from within the fan base — Jonathan Kuminga — appears to be on the verge of breaking into the rotation again because of a strong week of practices.
Kerr praised the way the 23-year-old forward has performed in practice since being taken out of the rotation during a Dec. 7 game against the Chicago Bulls.
“I can tell you JK’s been great this last week,” Kerr said. “As he’s been out of the rotation, he’s working really hard and I’m going to reward that. He needs to be back out there.”
After a strong start to the season in which Kuminga earned a place in the starting lineup, he has not been able to find consistent minutes. He was also impacted by a knee injury he dealt with for several weeks, and struggled to produce after returning from a seven-game absence. Kerr has been open about how tough it has been to juggle the rotation and find the right combination, but he reiterated that no matter which player he picks to play, there will be other deserving players left on the bench.
“It’s tricky,” Kerr said. “I think we have 14, 15 guys who I feel very comfortable putting on the floor, but I also only feel comfortable playing 11 at the most each night, really 10, and so no matter how we slice it, I’m gonna come up here and you’re gonna ask me about three different guys and it’s fair because they can all play.”
One of those guys is rookie Will Richard, who hasn’t played since getting 24 minutes in the Dec. 7 game against the Bulls. Richard, a second-round pick from the University of Florida, made a quick splash early in the season, starting 12 games. Kerr said he spoke to the rookie about the logjam in the rotation, but is confident Richard will be back on the floor soon.
“The great thing with Will is he gets it,” Kerr said. “I went to him last week and told him I was gonna take him out of the rotation because we’re getting healthy and I want to play my vets and give everybody a look. And he said, “I got you, coach.” He understands his place on the team as a rookie, and his time will come back around for sure.”
Kerr said that veteran big man Al Horford participated in all of Wednesday’s short practice and that the sciatica issue he’s been dealing with is healed, but Horford remains doubtful for Thursday’s game.
“It’s now about ramping back up,” Kerr said. “Rhythm, conditioning, he’s got to keep stacking these days together.”
That goes for the entirety of the Warriors’ roster two months into the new year. Aside from Curry, the Warriors have struggled to string together enough good games in a row to please a fan base starved to support another winner. The frustration both inside and outside the organization is growing, as evidenced by owner Joe Lacob’s email response to a fan becoming public and revealing his own personal frustration with the group.
For his part, Kerr is trying to maintain a sense of calm about the highs and lows and believes that better days are ahead for the proud organization.
“I just think we’re in a state right now where we’ve been inconsistent,” Kerr said. “We’ve been losing. Guys have been out with injuries, other guys have been in and out of the lineup, so there’s frustration for sure, from all of us. From Joe, we know that, too. Frustration for the staff of not being able to find the consistency we’re looking for. Frustration from the players, not knowing exactly when they’re going in.
“Any time you have a stretch like this in the NBA, then you feel the fragility of it all. You feel the vulnerability. So it’s important for me, for our veteran leaders, to rally the troops, get the guys together, and remind them that margin for error in this league between winning and losing is like that. We’re losing a bunch of close ones, we can flip this thing, and we do that together. It always has to be together or it won’t work.”
