Steve Kerr pointedly rebuffed a reporter’s question about the Warriors in the 2025 NBA Finals
As long as Steph Curry is doing Steph Curry things, the Golden State Warriors will always be one of the NBA's biggest tickets. There are few basketball thrills greater than watching Curry and his team fire on all cylinders. But that doesn't mean people should be unrealistic about what the Warriors can accomplish over the rest of the season. Just because they acquired Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline does not mean Golden State now has legitimate NBA Finals aspirations.
Well, that is, unless you ask a reporter who implied that the Warriors are apparently still capable of such a lofty goal after Golden State's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night.
After a game where some of the Warriors' bench players excelled in the absence of Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga, a reporter framed his question for Steve Kerr with the mindset that Golden State is ultimately still gunning for a Finals appearance this June. Kerr respectfully took issue with his implication, noting that the Warriors — who are currently No. 7 in the Western Conference Standings — are focused on making the playoffs first.
Until further notice, Kerr seems to think that talk of them making the Finals right now is a little overzealous.
And he's not wrong:
Steve Kerr asked if his bench would be enough in the Finals
“We would like to make the playoffs. The playoffs. You’re talking about the Finals? We just want to make the playoffs. Let’s not talk about the Finals.” pic.twitter.com/WXYgwcy7yM— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 2, 2025
Beyond Kerr trying to properly calibrate his team, the numbers also say that a Warriors Finals run is extremely unlikely unless they go thermonuclear down the stretch. Only five non-top-four seeds have ever qualified for the NBA Finals, though the last two occurred over the last two seasons: the 2023 Miami Heat and the 2024 Dallas Mavericks. This is beside the point of general qualification for the championship round, but it should go without saying that only one non-top-four seed (the 1995 Houston Rockets) has also ever won the title.
So, Kerr isn't being a little incredulous over nothing about questions like this. History says these specific Warriors probably aren't making a deep playoff run all the way to June. This particular spring is more about building chemistry with a new-look roster that features Jimmy Butler at the forefront while ideally recalibrating and getting off the ground running next season. It's as simple as that.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Steve Kerr was so shocked by Warriors 2025 NBA Finals suggestion
