Heading into the 2025-26 NBA season, the Golden State Warriors probably viewed themselves as championship contenders. At the very least, they expected to be better than.500 as a team. However, that hasn’t been the case.
Nearly two months into the season, the Warriors sit one game below.500 at 13-14, which is good for eighth in the Western Conference standings. They would be in the Play-In tournament if the season ended today.
When it comes to Golden State’s struggles this season, head coach Steve Kerr pinned the blame on himself with one simple statement.
"I'm not doing my job well this year," Kerr said following Golden State’s 136-131 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night – their second straight loss.
Golden State’s struggles aren’t solely on Kerr, but blame is often assigned from the top down, so it’s fair to start there. Kerr’s inability to find a consistent role for, and maximize, Jonathan Kuminga continues to be an issue for the Warriors.
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In addition to Kuminga, Kerr thinks that the coaching staff hasn’t done a great job of putting Jimmy Butler in position to succeed this season, especially when Steph Curry isn’t on the floor.
"I thought we did a better job last year putting him in position to attack and create shots for people," Kerr said. "We need to get back to that type of control of the game where we are going to him in the half court."
The good news for the Warriors is that there’s still a whole lot of basketball to be played this season, so they’ll have an opportunity to correct course. In order to do so, though, they’ll have to figure things out on offense.
They have the fourth-highest rated defense in the NBA, but their offense is in the bottom third league-wide and it gets substantially worse when Curry is off the floor. When Curry is on the bench, Golden State has the worst offense in the league by a comfortable margin. That’s tough to overcome.
Kerr isn't on any type of hot seat. The Warriors have experienced unprecedented success under his leadership, which affords him some slack. But, he isn’t infallible, and he hasn’t done a great job so far this season, by his own admission. Let's see what he can do to turn it around.