Steve Kerr Details Warriors’ New Approach and What It Means for Draymond Green

Steve Kerr is thinking big about the Warriors heading into 2026-27. He is rebuilding how the Golden State Warriors train, compete and think, and the ripple effects reach straight into Draymond Green's role on the floor. After a 37-45 season that ended without a playoff berth, Kerr has made it plain the Warriors showing up this fall will look and work differently.

He has spent more than a decade managing Green's fire alongside Stephen Curry's steadiness. Now, with the league's balance of power tilting back toward dominant big men, Kerr is asking his longest-tenured stars to adjust to a game that no longer plays by their old rules.

Steve Kerr Signals Warriors Shake-Up With Major Changes to 2026-27 Process

Steve Kerr laid out the shift plainly. "We have really changed our process in terms of how we're going to practice," he said, adding that some of it comes down to basics and tightening up drill work because the sport itself has moved on. 

Further, he pointed to the resurgence of skilled big men across the league, players like Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Victor Wembanyama and Karl-Anthony Towns, who can dominate the paint and still shoot from outside, as a reason the Warriors' old small-ball identity needed an update.

It was heartbreaking for the Golden State Warriors as they finished last season under .500 for the first time in years. Injuries derailed their last season championship dream. Jimmy Butler tore his ACL, Moses Moody suffered a torn patellar tendon, and both Curry and Green missed stretches too. Kerr's message is that the practice floor, not just the roster, has to catch up to a league that punishes teams for standing still.

Where Draymond Green Fits Into Kerr's New-Look Warriors

Draymond Green signed a one-year, $27.7 million deal in July and enters his 15th season in the Bay Area, still central to whatever Kerr builds next. The veteran forward has heard directly from his coach about what comes with that. "We're not going to take away from that, but he's going to have to adapt a little bit," Kerr said, referencing Green's defense, passing and communication while making clear those qualities are not going anywhere.

Kerr credited Green's fingerprints on all four championship runs, saying, "We don't have a single championship without him." It is a reminder of how far the two have come. Green once told his coach, "I don't think you've ever liked me," and the relationship survived that moment to become one of the longest-running coach-player partnerships in the sport. 

Curry is the offensive focal point, and Kerr, now signed through 2027-28, has two seasons to reshape the roster around both of them while asking Green to bend without breaking what he brings.