The Warriors didn’t blow things up this summer, and that choice leaves Steve Kerr and his new-look staff carrying a bigger load.
Golden State kept the roster changes minor, a move that puts extra attention on the coaching side after a season that featured “sloppy late-game execution, silly turnovers, curious shot selection and defensive rotations that were too late or entirely missed,” as Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote. The Warriors finished 37-45 in 2025/26, and Kerr says the group has spent the offseason digging into exactly where things went sideways.
“We’ve studied everything over the offseason, taken a lot of time to watch film and see certain combinations, what we did well, what we didn’t do well,” Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area. “And I think we have a chance to be much better this year than we were last year. I really believe we’re going to be better, and I think I’ve got to be better.”
One of the biggest changes is on the sideline. Kerr said he’ll work with assistants Bruce “Q” Fraser, Seth Cooper and Nicholas Kerr on offense, while new associate head coach Frank Vogel will run the defense with help from Jacob Rubin and Anthony Vereen, according to Poole.
“Frank’s a great coach,” Kerr told Poole. “He’s been obviously a head coach for many years in the league.
He’s a great defensive mind. I’m excited.
I think he will be a good voice for our team. He’s a great defensive mind, especially, but he’s someone who I feel very comfortable with right next to me.
I’m going to turn the defense over to him.”
Vogel told Joseph Dycus of Bay Area News Group that Kerr first checked on his interest in joining the staff in the 2024 offseason, not long after Vogel was let go by Phoenix following one season as the Suns’ head coach. Vogel instead took a consulting role with Dallas at the time, but Golden State stayed in touch, and now he gets to work alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Kerr - a core that has won four championships together.
“It’s a special opportunity to be a part of this legacy that they’ve had,” Vogel said, “And we’ll see if we can squeeze some magic out of these last however many years that they’re together.”
Vogel, 53, also discussed Green’s defensive value and the challenge of preparing for Curry, and he singled out rookie Yaxel Lendeborg for his unselfish style. The former Michigan star was taken 11th overall in June’s draft, and Vogel likes how naturally he plays.
“There’s very little forcing of offense in Yaxel’s game, you know, and that’s something that you dream of as a coach,” Vogel said. “You want players that are going to play the right way each time down. He does it naturally.”
Green, meanwhile, says his offensive role may be shifting a bit in 2026/27. On his podcast, he said Kerr wants him taking more threes, and he welcomed the message.
“As far as shooting threes, for the first time in my career, Coach Kerr told me towards the end of last year, he pulled me to the side and he’s like, ‘Draymond, I want you shooting the three.’ And I was like, ‘Oh s-.’
It was like an out of body experience, because I had never really heard him like confidently look me in my eye and say to me, ‘Yo, I want you shooting the basketball,” Green said. “… When he told me, the confidence level rose immediately.
That was great for me, and now being able to go into the season with that mindset of like, I catch, I’m open, I’m firing. For me, ultimately, it’s going to help my shooting percentages, because it’s a lot different shooting the three when you catch and you’re not sure if you should shoot the three, or when you catch and you’re looking for the next action because that’s kind of your role in the offense.
It’s a lot different shooting that three, because then it’s no longer a rhythm three.”
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