Golden State’s quest for a three-peat ended in the worst way possible, but according to head coach Steve Kerr, their dynasty isn’t quite finished.
Kerr hopes Klay Thompson (torn ACL) and Kevin Durant (ruptured Achilles) “can be really good again” and re-sign with the Warriors.
Kerr adds that he has “unbelievable confidence” in general manager Bob Myers navigating the Dubs through a summer of deep uncertainty.
Per The Mercury News:
“No. I don’t look at it or think about it in those terms,” Kerr said. “I really don’t. Steph is going to be back next year. Draymond is going to be back. We’re going to have a bunch of players from here and we can still be really good, assuming we get some breaks health wise. Klay and KD – they can recover and can be really good again. So I don’t look at it from that standpoint at all.”
Granted, Kerr admitted the uncertainty ahead knowing that Durant and Thompson are guaranteed to miss a significant chunk of games because of their injuries.
“It’s hard to even picture what next year’s team will look like at this point,” Kerr said. “We’ll see how it all shakes out. We’re hoping to have both of those guys back. If that’s the case, it’ll be great. But neither one will be available for quite a while to play. So our team is going to look a lot different next year.”
And that is why the Warriors believe they can still thrive even if they no longer remain championship favorites. They might not have as many All-Stars this season. They still have the right people and infrastructure to absorb any shocks to the system. No wonder Kerr relayed that other coaches and colleagues around the NBA often told him this past season “was more impressive than your championship years.”
“Anything that happened, here we were with a chance to force a Game 7 in the Finals without some key guys. We were right there,” Kerr said. “We’ll continue to survive and thrive.”
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