The Golden State Warriors are on a nice three-game winning streak right now and look to be playing some solid basketball, yet head coach Steve Kerr's heated exchange with the team on Sunday night shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
The game was well within hand with three minutes to go, but Buddy Hield had a sloppy and careless turnover which earned him a stern talking to from Kerr who continues to make clear just how important it is to take care of the ball.
Turnover woes continue to prove the Warriors' biggest weakness
Golden State had 21 turnovers on the night which, while not hurting them too badly against a struggling team like the New Orleans Pelicans, is going to catch up with them against more formidable opponents if they continue to be loose and careless with the ball.
The Warriors are one of the league leaders when it comes to giving the ball away. They average 16 turnovers per game which is good for the fifth-highest mark in the NBA, having already cost them dearly earlier in the season, particularly as they lost five of seven games following a bright 4-1 start.
Steve Kerr, up 22 with three minutes left, lit into Buddy Hield and then yelled at everyone on the bench about ball security. Warriors had 21 turnovers tonight.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 17, 2025
"We know if we want to compete at the highest level we have to be a lot better." pic.twitter.com/wGS17KOXAS
Part of this is to be expected given the fact that Stephen Curry is the star and unquestioned leader of the Warriors. For as exciting as the 2x MVP is, and for as many times he does things with a basketball that cannot help but make you shake your head, he is prone to being loose and careless with the ball at times.
That may just be part of the price you pay with Curry given that's the way he plays, but the rest of the team may take cues from that and be similarly sloppy with ball-handling at times.
Kerr knows that they have to clean it up. If they are going to compete with the top teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets, they need to be firing on all cylinders and that means taking care of the basketball.
The fact that Hield was the one whose carelessness caused Kerr to get so upset does not help his cause if he wants more playing time. The veteran sharpshooter has been struggling as of late, and if he is going to make bone-headed plays like he did on Sunday, then that is only going to give Kerr less of a reason to play him moving forward.
It was a minor moment at the end of a blowout win, but the fact Kerr got so animated speaks to how big of an issue it is, and how it's something the Warriors need to clean up going forward.