LeBron James was heavily rumored to join the Golden State Warriors earlier in the offseason, but he shocked everyone when he chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Many were looking forward to LeBron playing alongside Steph Curry, his biggest rival, in Golden State, except for the Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
According to Kerr, he never really believed James was going to play in Golden State, so he never had his hopes up.
“I don’t think it’s exactly earth-shattering news, or I don’t think I’ll get fined for saying, like, it never really felt like he was, you know, coming here,” Kerr said in his appearance in the Tom Tolbert show. “It was more, to me, it was more speculation than anything. I think we would have had a much better sense that, you know, something was going to happen.”
Steve Kerr Knows Where The Rumors Came From
Kerr, however, understood where the rumors were coming from, especially that many were imagining LeBron playing in his fiercest rival’s franchise.
“It’s been really interesting, though, hearing fans around the Bay. Like, you know, people will randomly come up to me and say, ‘I’m glad we didn’t get Bron.’ And I’m like, ‘Really?’” Kerr said.
“And they’re like, ‘Yeah. It’s like he’s not supposed to be on our – he’s a rival.’ Like, you know, and I get that as a sports fan. It’d be like, you know, should Magic and Bird have played on the same team?”
James and the Warriors shared the defining basketball rivalry of the modern era, meeting in four consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018.
While the Warriors won three of those four championship series, two of which were bolstered further when Kevin Durant joined their roster, LeBron delivered one of the greatest individual comebacks in sports history by leading the Cleveland Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 NBA title.
The rivalry continued when LeBron moved to the Los Angeles Lakers, but they have never met again in the NBA Finals, despite the Lakers winning the title in 2020 and the Warriors winning another championship in 2022.
Steve Kerr Gives Outlook For The Warriors
Steve Kerr has a positive outlook for the Warriors in the upcoming NBA season, even after missing out on LeBron James in free agency.
Kerr believed in the team’s offseason moves, which included signing Georges Niang, Brandon Williams, and drafting Yaxel Lendeborg.
“Look, we did the best we could to put together the roster. I think Yaxel is going to help quite a bit. He’s a really good player. He’s older. He’s mature. Watching him work out with our guys, he’s going to help us,” Kerr said.
Kerr also called for the entire team to contribute, especially as they still nurse the injuries of Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody.
“We’re going to have to rely on our whole roster, including our two-way players at times and fortunately, I do feel really good about the guys we have who have kind of filled out the back end of the roster and I think they can help us hold down the fort until Jimmy and Moses get back second half of the year,” Kerr said.
Warriors Coach Reveals What He Thinks About LeBron James Joining Golden State