Steve Kerr didn’t pull any punches when a reporter asked him if the Golden State Warriors’ veterans would be able to play in the second leg of their upcoming back-to-back. The Warriors dropped the Feb. 12 contest by a score of 111-107 to the new-look Dallas Mavericks.
Are Steve Kerr’s Complaints Valid?
“It’s a tough back-to-back … that’s what makes this loss even more frustrating, is that we’re gonna get into Houston at 3:00 [a.m.] because the NBA in its infinite wisdom makes us play an 8:45 game,” he quipped. “They clearly don’t care about rest or player health. It’s just ratings and all that stuff.”
Steve Kerr said he doesn’t know if Steph Curry (37 minutes) and the other veterans will go in Houston tomorrow night: “That’s what makes this loss more frustrating. We’re gonna get into Houston at 3 o’clock because the NBA in its infinite wisdom makes us play an 8:45 game.” pic.twitter.com/QMSpwKTtaB
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 13, 2025
Kerr will almost certainly face some backlash from the league for his comments, but they come at an interesting time, given the widespread discourse regarding the NBA’s ratings decline this season.
Players, coaches, fans, and social media pundits alike have speculated as to the reason behind the decline, with suggested reasons ranging from too many 3-pointers to the rise in streaming services like NBA League Pass to competition for audiences with the NFL.
To Kerr’s credit, for a team like the Warriors, who entered the season as the fourth-oldest team in the league before trading for 35-year-old Jimmy Butler, these late back-to-backs can have legitimate implications on their ability to win games and keep their aging stars like Butler and Stephen Curry healthy — which itself could hurt the league’s ratings if one of them goes down for an extended period of time.
In Kerr and the Warriors’ interest, some suggested fixes to the ratings decline involve shortening the season and/or pushing it to the summer, both of which could reduce the kinds of back-to-backs that led to the coach’s complaints.
However, several fans have taken to X to call out Kerr for his comments, with some pointing out that the Feb. 13 contest against the Houston Rockets is the Warriors’ last outing before the weeklong All-Star break, and others drawing attention to the fact that NBA teams fly from game-to-game on private jets.
Some Warriors will get more rest than others over All-Star weekend though, as Curry is due to represent Shaq’s OGs in the All-Star Game, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and two-way guard Pat Spencer will take part in the Rising Stars competition and Buddy Hield will look to heat up in the 3-Point Contest.
The Warriors are also in a position where they can’t really afford to rest their veterans for every back-to-back if they want to climb out of the Western Conference’s play-in tournament. They’re currently the 10th seed with just 27 games to go after the All-Star break.
However, they still sit just 3.5 games back of the sixth seed, so with a strong push to close the season, they can comfortably lock themselves into a playoff spot. Play resumes after the break on Wednesday, February 19 and the Warriors return to play on Friday, February 21.
