Steve Kerr is going to speak his mind. That’s what he’s done throughout his 12-season tenure as the Golden State Warriors’ head coach. Backlash doesn’t deter him.
He said Tuesday before the Warriors’ 130-124 overtime defeat to the Chicago Bulls — their fifth loss in the past six games — that he wasn’t even aware of Stephen A. Smith’s response to him once again pushing for a shortened NBA season that he believes would lead to a more competitive and healthier league.
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Although Smith prefaced his opinion by conceding that Kerr often makes profound statements that deserve everyone’s attention, the ESPN pundit went on to criticize the nine-time NBA champion’s desire to reduce the league’s 82-game schedule by 10 games.
“Minimum salary in the NBA is over 1.2 million. The median salary in the NBA is over seven million. The maximum salary in the NBA goes anywhere on average like $54 million. We’re talking about individuals signing $250, 350 million contracts. And now you come to us talking about there should be 10 less games?” Smith said on Tuesday’s episode of “First Take.”
“What the hell do you want next? You want us to put a diaper and a bib on these guys?”
Smith added: “I assure you, you don’t hear players that are making a million dollars or even making $5 million talking about how there should be less games. You know why? Because they want to position themselves to make that paper. Only when you get to that point do you say stuff like that. Steve Kerr didn’t say that when he was playing. … The NBA just signed an 11-year, $77 billion contract. How do you get that if you don’t play those games?”
This all came up again because Kerr was asked Monday ahead of the Warriors’ 119-116 loss to the Utah Jazz what he would address if he was the NBA commissioner.
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“That was my answer,” Kerr said Tuesday. “And the reason is cause my No. 1 concern is the quality of the NBA product. And I think limiting the schedule would encompass a lot of issues: Player health, player availability, tanking — I think all of that stuff would improve. And I think the quality of play would improve.
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“We don’t practice much at all. If we had those extra days for practice and a fresher team, the quality of the product would be better.”
Kerr then got to the part of the discussion Smith was targeting.
“I know that it’s a question of revenue,” he said. “I’m not an idiot. Everybody would have to agree — to improve the product, we would actually have to make a little less revenue. It’s not really an American concept anymore, but I’m of the belief that it should be.
“I think quality is going to matter long term. And I think for the long-term health of the league, we need to think about this. And that means everyone would have to consider the ramifications. So of course it’s about money, but you have to be careful, too. Just having more of something doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to make more money if the product isn’t good. I know it’s a controversial subject, but I’m going to keep speaking my mind cause I think it’s important.”
The Warriors have been riddled by injuries this season. They’re currently 32-33 and ninth in the Western Conference standings.
Most notably, they lost six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler III to a season-ending ACL tear, and two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry has missed the past 15 games with a lingering knee injury.
Kerr said back in November that he was “very concerned” about the league’s dramatic change in pace and frequency of play leading to more injuries across the NBA.
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At the time, the Warriors were on a six-game road trip, during which Kerr said they hadn’t had a single practice because of their cluttered slate.
As of Tuesday, NBA teams were averaging 115.2 points per game, the most since the 1969-70 season, according to ESPN, which also reported that players had combined to cover 37.1 miles per game during the 2025-26 campaign at an average speed of 4.29 mph.
Those are both highs since player tracking started in 2013-14, per ESPN.
