Warriors Navigating Lineup Chaos, Frustrated Fans, and Defensive Lapses - But Steve Kerr Isn’t Hitting the Panic Button
SAN FRANCISCO - The Golden State Warriors are in the thick of an early-season identity crisis. Injuries, inconsistent rotations, and a string of frustrating losses have left the team hovering just below .500 - and fans are starting to feel the heat. But inside the walls of Chase Center, head coach Steve Kerr is keeping his cool.
After Tuesday’s practice, Kerr addressed the latest swirl of drama - not a lineup decision or a trade rumor, but an email from team owner Joe Lacob to a disgruntled fan that found its way onto Reddit. The message came in the wake of Sunday’s loss to the Trail Blazers, and it touched on everything from coaching preferences to the Warriors’ stylistic direction - even defending Jimmy Butler’s role at power forward.
“You can’t be as frustrated as me,” Lacob wrote. “I am working on it.
It’s complicated. Style of play.
Coaches’ desires regarding players. League trends.
Jimmy is not the problem.”
Kerr, for his part, didn’t flinch.
“It’s not a big deal. I’m not concerned about anything like that,” he said.
The head coach has plenty on his plate already. The Warriors have used nine different starting lineups in their last nine games.
That’s not a stat you want to lead the league in. Injuries and absences have made consistency a luxury, not a given.
Pat Spencer, who had started three of those games, will miss Thursday’s matchup in Phoenix due to an excused absence.
Still, Kerr is hoping to build some continuity around the most recent starting five: Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Moses Moody, and Quinten Post. It’s a group that blends veteran leadership with youth and versatility - and right now, that’s the best shot Golden State has at finding a rhythm.
Kerr acknowledged the team’s 13-14 start isn’t what anyone envisioned, but emphasized that frustration is shared across the board - from the coaching staff to the locker room to the front office.
“This is how the league works,” Kerr said. “Joe supports me 100% and I support him.
We have a great connection. We’ve had so much continuity here, and our stable environment and organization is one of our strengths.”
That organizational stability has been a hallmark of the Warriors’ dynasty run. But the current on-court product is anything but stable.
The team’s defensive identity - once its calling card - has gone missing in action over the past two games. After holding three straight opponents under 100 points on the road, Golden State has surrendered over 125 in back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Portland.
Brandin Podziemski, who’s gone from starting regularly to coming off the bench, pointed to the defensive end as the root of the problem.
“We didn’t get many stops last game, and neither did we against Minnesota,” Podziemski said. “That’s where it starts. If you don’t get stops, it makes it that much harder because you feel like you have to score, but if you get stops, you have that room for error.”
That defensive drop-off has put even more pressure on the offense to be perfect - and in crunch time, that’s a dangerous place to be.
Moses Moody, another young piece trying to carve out his role, reflected on the difference between last season’s strong finish and this year’s rocky start.
“It feels different,” Moody said. “These last couple of games, and there’s so many games this year we should have won.
Coming down to the end like that, we’re not far off. One shot goes differently, and this is a whole different conversation.
I think we’re able to realize that, and coach is able to realize that, so nobody is panicking.”
That’s the key word: nobody is panicking. Not Kerr.
Not the players. Not even Lacob, whose email - despite its viral moment - showed a level of engagement and urgency that mirrors the mood around the organization.
Yes, the Warriors are in a funk. But they’re not fractured. There’s a belief - from the top down - that the pieces are there, and that the right lineup, the right defensive effort, and the right stretch of games could flip the narrative.
For now, it’s about surviving the turbulence, finding combinations that work, and rediscovering the team’s identity on both ends of the floor. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned from this Warriors era, it’s that they’re never out until they say they are.