Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and recently re-signed head coach Steve Kerr held a joint press conference on Friday. A lot of topics were discussed such as Kerr’s decision to come back after there was so much speculation about his future, but Dunleavy certainly caught the attention of a lot of Warriors fans with his diagnosis of what went wrong for the Warriors this past season.
Dunleavy was asked about how much he and Kerr discussed the roster when it came to Kerr coming back, with the general manager stating, "this isn’t about the roster frankly. This year, I don’t think we came up short because of the talent on the roster. It was injuries and things we can control.”
Mike Dunleavy's latest comments are divorced from reality
Dunleavy didn't say he doesn't think the roster can improve, having mentioned right after that he's focused on improving the roster. Yet the notion that the Warriors had a talented enough roster to make a run this season is certainly questionable and is not quite based on reality.
The Warriors absolutely suffered from injuries. Losing Jimmy Butler really did feel like the end of any possibility the team had to be a contender, but it’s not as if the Warriors were in all that strong of a position before that.
Mike Dunleavy: “This isn’t about the roster frankly. This year, I don’t think we came up short because of the talent on the roster. It was injuries and things we can control.” pic.twitter.com/QtUtqttkHT
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 15, 2026
The team was playing fairly disjointed, uninspired basketball for much of the year. They weren't consistent enough to be a real contender even when all of their key pieces were on the floor together, so while the injuries killed the season, they didn’t have much of a chance even when everyone was healthy.
That speaks to the flaws in roster construction. It wasn't completely crazy to try to run it back when the Warriors finished the 2024-25 season so strong after acquiring Butler. They finished the regular season impressively and then made a little run in the playoffs that was felled by Stephen Curry’s hamstring injury, but they clearly needed more talent to be a legit contender.
There seemed to be some recognition of that from Kerr in the press conference. He said the team needed fresher legs and players who could play more often because he felt limited by having so many veterans who couldn’t play in back-to-back games.
It sounded like the Warriors intend to use the No. 11 pick in the NBA Draft. We will see if that ends up being true rather than them deciding to trade that pick away, but there's no doubt they could certainly use the infusion of some young talent.
Dunleavy has drawn criticism for his defensiveness in the past and his answer about the talent on the roster is not going to earn the trust of many skeptical Warriors fans who think the team is still a star player away from legitimately being able to contend.
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