After holding training camp at Chase Center every year since the building opened in 2019, the Warriors are going on the road this season.
To Hawaii.
After the conclusion of media day on September 30, the Warriors will board a flight to Honolulu and spend the rest of the week there, which will culminate in a preseason game.
Why are the Warriors willing to spend extra for this particular preseason? Reducing their salaries to avoid the luxury tax may be one reason, but the bigger impact is the composition of the roster.
There is an obvious age difference: Thirty-somethings Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are by far the elder statesmen, and four rotation players – Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski – are all under 25.
There are three new veterans — Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield and D’Anthony Melton — who are slated to be nothing less than rotation members of the team. The last time this many veterans were added was in the lost 2019-20 season: Alec Burks, Willie Cauley-Stein, Damion Lee, Glenn Robinson III.
There are also significant changes to the coaching staff, in some ways even more significant than in 2021-22, when Kenny Atkinson, Jama Mahlalela and Dejan “Deki” Milojević joined Steve Kerr’s coaching staff.
Veteran coach Terry Stotts, a longtime head coach and respected offensive strategist, will have significant influence on that front. And former NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse comes aboard to add bite to Golden State’s defense. All signs point to restructuring on both sides.
Kerr and the members of the executive team are confident that this four-day trip to BYU-Hawaii on Oahu’s idyllic North Shore will foster healthy bonds that benefit everyone involved.
Every player, coach and front office executive recognizes that the Warriors are on the verge of transition. Kerr and Curry have two more seasons left on their contracts. Green also has two seasons left, with a player option for 2026-27. There is a belief that the U25 group can be critical to future success.
This is much more costly than a training camp in San Francisco because the returning players and coaches have the option of driving home each night while the newcomers make their own preparations.
But this approach is deliberate and purposeful. That is the definition of a “camp”. At first glance, this all makes a lot of sense.
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