Two days after Draymond Green walked off the bench and into the locker room following a heated sideline confrontation, Steve Kerr didn’t try to reframe it as “competitive fire” or a harmless dust-up. He took the blame.
After Wednesday’s practice at Chase Center, Kerr addressed the exchange that erupted during Monday night’s win over the Orlando Magic, when Green left the floor in the third quarter and then didn’t return to the game. Kerr called it a personal failure in the moment.
“Monday night was not my finest hour. That was a time I needed to be calm in the huddle. So I regret my actions in that exchange.” Kerr said the two veterans talked it through quickly and directly, and that the resolution wasn’t just between them. “I apologized to Dray, he apologized to me, we both apologized to the team… Over the 12 years we’ve been together, this has happened occasionally. I’m not proud of it…”
The coach’s message was that the relationship is strong enough to survive friction, but also that the standard inside the building is higher than what played out in public.
The context matters. Golden State has been grinding through an uneven season, sitting 15–15 after the Magic win, with every game now carrying extra weight in a crowded Western Conference and a roster still trying to find its most stable identity.
In that kind of environment, arguments aren’t surprising. What was surprising was how visibly it spilled into the open.
But Kerr didn’t stop at the apology. He also delivered the most telling line about where he wants this era to end.
“My number one goal, honestly, is for him to finish his career as a Warrior.”
“Monday night was not my finest hour. That was a time I needed to be calm in the huddle. So I regret my actions in that exchange. I apologized to Dray, he apologized to me, we both apologized to the team… Over the 12 years we’ve been together, this has happened occasionally.… https://t.co/CkDByMwiRa pic.twitter.com/nObjVIJL8q
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 24, 2025
That’s not a throwaway sentiment. Kerr and Green have been linked for essentially the entire Warriors dynasty: four championships, a decade of continuity, and a relationship built on trust, intensity, and, yes, occasional combustion. Kerr’s statement reads like a deliberate stake in the ground at a time when any internal drama immediately triggers outside speculation about trades, suspensions, and breakups.
In the short term, the conclusion is straightforward: the incident is being handled as an internal reset, not a fracture. Kerr admitted he needed to be better in the huddle, both men apologized, and the organization is moving forward. In the longer view, Kerr’s quote is the headline, because it signals that, even with the volatility, Golden State still sees Draymond Green not as a problem to manage, but as a pillar to keep until the final page of his career.
