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Welcome back to NBA Tip Off here on ESPN. It's brought to you by AT&T. Uh end of the road for the Warriors this year in the playin. Um and you see some of the facts and figures. Second fewest wins, 37 under Steve Kerr from 2014 on and on with a player. $27 million. That's a nice option. That ain't half bad, Kenny. You going to take that? I mean, I don't want to leave it. Excellent answer. You're just thinking about it. I want to leave it. I got it. I want to leave it.
The date not here yet. Hey, so we want to spend a few minutes just talking to you about what's what's going on in your life and your career and 14 years in the league all with the same team. And then I saw at the end of the game you and Steph and Steve um in a group hug there. What was that? What was that about? what thoughts were going through your mind as this season ended? Well, Steve grabbed both of us and he said, "Yo, I just wanted to take this moment. Like, I just don't know, you know, I don't know if we'll have this moment again. So, I just want to take this moment and thank you guys, you know, and it was a special moment."
The first thing uh Travis said when we walked off was like, "Man, I'm so happy Steve was in the moment." Like, and he didn't miss that moment. But like going down the stretch, you can't help but think like, "Is this it? Is this the end?" Right? like I have an option as you see. If they don't want me back, I'm not just going to take the option. Like this has always been a partnership, right? You want me, I want you. It works out. And so I do think they want me back. But I'm just saying with Steve, you know, he's coaching on the last year of a contract. Does he come back? What does that look like? And so it was weird down the stretch because you're kind of feeling this pressure of like, yo, we need to win to kind of
stabilize things, but yet you got Jimmy Butler out with a knee injury. You got Moses Moody out with a knee injury. You got Steph Curry out with a knee injury. And we're just free falling pretty much from all-star break on. Could you see yourself in another uniform? I mean, I don't want to. Like I it's it's not something I've imagined over the last few years of my career. Early on in your career, you're kind of like, when is this going to come to an end? You know, like I've been here long enough. You look at the stats, guys don't stay that long. Then your mind shift set kind of shifts like can I make this a forever thing?
Can I stretch this the length of my career? When I signed my last deal, that became a realistic possibility. And so for me, no, I don't see myself in another uniform, but I am also understanding of this business and know that it takes them to want me as much as I want them in order for it to continue on. But the grass ain't always greener. tell you and sometime it is but some a lot of times it isn't because especially coming from a championship pedigree and the worst case scenario for me after winning two championship in Houston you have a championship thought in a culture and then you go to a teams that are just getting by and you walk in the locker room and you know right away you're like this is
a joke and this is not it this is they're not trying to win they don't even know how to win. They're guessing and throwing darts at the ball board. And then if you say something, and I know you would say something, you look like the outsider, man. When I left, I was less Houston. I was like, "This is not it, brother. It's not." And I've heard that from everyone, you know, and I've heard that the entirety of my career, you know, like having veterans like Germaine O'Neal, like a Jared Jack, you know, like um Carl Landry, Richard Jefferson, Sean Livingston, all of those guys, David West, they come in and be like, "Yo, this ain't the real NBA." That's the word.
They would come and say, and I'll say this, and I'll let you talk, Charles, too, but the one thing that I used to always say is, "This is not the real NBA." And you know what? First time in my life I felt like I was playing for a check. First time ever. Well, it's over for the Warriors. There you go. I mean, no, no, no disrespect, but no disrespect. It ends for every old team. You have your run. You get old. Y'all let Clay go. You and Steph on the back side of y'all careers. Uh it just passed you by. Y'all had one of the greatest runs ever. If you think
you're not you didn't you're not in the playoffs, you're not gonna make you think you're gonna get healthier for next year. You're just gonna get older. That's no disrespect. You guys had one of the greatest runs of all time. If you want to compete, you're going to have to leave there. If Steph wants to compete, he's going to have to leave there. You going to have to make that decision. What if they bring the right pieces in? They can't bring the right pieces because they don't have no cap space. Okay? They don't have any cap space. You believe? Do you believe that you believe what he's talking over here?
Well, here's what I would say. We had to hug for a reason, right? Like we're not cuz it's over. We're not oblivious. Yeah. So, like, this could be the end. It le that's the thing that makes me laugh. It ended for Larry Bird Celtics. It ended for Isaiah Thomas uh Pistons. It ended for Michael Jordan Bulls. The last dance. It ended for Tim Duncan and Parker and Jobi. It always ends. Sports, listen, sports are for young people. You hope to have a great long career, but sports, nobody wins when they're 37, 38. But you said what you said. I want to hear if he believes what you're talking.
Yeah. I mean, I think the goal is just to not look like you in the Houston Rockers uniform. Yeah. Is ultimately the goal for us. It's like we don't want to. What does that look like? Did you see it? I'm just asking. I saw it. I mean, so, you know, we're always going to try to compete. When you win championships, the goal will always be to try to reach that level. Can we get back to that level? Listen, to your point, Jimmy's going to miss a lot of next year. Moses is going to miss a lot of next year. That's $70 million.
$75 million of a what $160 million payroll. So, it's going to be tough. But make no mistake about it, the goal will always be to compete at a championship standard level. Whether we win a championship or not, I think as you get older, you have to redefine what's success, right? Still the most sellouts in the NBA, still the most national TV games in the NBA, and you just want to give yourself a chance. success may not be for us at this point a championship, right? That's just what that's the way it goes. And so I think understanding what is success at this point is key for us. Knowing and understanding that it may not be realistic to win a championship, but can we continue to
build to that so that once we leave this organization is still in a great space of where they have that pedigree and they can try to build on that. Exactly. Do you have any idea what Steve's going to do? Uh I think and hope he's coming back. Um I don't know more than anyone else in the world knows outside of what I do know is that he wants to coach. And so if he wants to coach, I think he comes back. You raised a few eyebrows when you said that you felt like he had hindered your career somewhat. In what way? Well, I think number one, people took a fourminute clip of me saying how great this guy's been to my career, how much
he's taught me about winning. Um, where I wouldn't be without him and all these things. And they took a 4-minute uh clip and they took 15 seconds of it where I said, you know, I think from an offensive standpoint, he hindered me. I stand by that. That's my truth. But I think every basketball player in the world has some gripe that they wish their coach would have done. I wish my coach would have this. I wish my coach would have done that. I'm not afraid to express my one gripe. But with me expressing my one gripe, make no mistake about it. I also said all of the incredible how much of a better man he's made me. I spoke on all of those things and we take one clip. Right. So, um
I agree with I agree. I heard the whole clip. Uh, you know, and I think that one thing that he you would have you could have been a very possibly a better offensive player in another system, but I don't think you would have been a better player. I think that he the way the Golden State Warriors set you up, made you a better overall basketball player. You became a smarter player. You became a point forward. And some of it was Mark Jackson moving to that position as well. and like just figuring out where you need the ball I thought was ingenious and it made you difficult to guard. So again, your 12 to 15 points on games was super impactful when that happened. They were super impactful.
By the way, I have zero regrets about my career. That's that's the beauty of it. I can say what my gripe is and everything's still great. There's no regrets about We ain't holding you back today though, Jay. Let's roll, baby. Great way to look at it.
