Kerr feels the pain of Raiders fans
SAN ANTONIO — Warriors head coach Steve Kerr views pro sports as a service-oriented business. The commodity? The joy they bring fan bases.
After NFL owners approved the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas on Monday, Kerr felt for the people of Oakland. It is a heartbreak he endured recently when the San Diego Chargers moved to Los Angeles. Kerr and his family have lived in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.
“In my opinion, sports franchises belong to the community,” Kerr said before Golden State’s win over the Spurs on Wednesday night. “I know that’s an incredibly naive thing to say, but I believe that. I believe sports franchises belong to the community, then I think the owners are sort of guardians, custodians. I think they need to do everything they can to make it work in that community.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, so I wouldn’t make a good owner, I guess. Or maybe I’d make a great owner. I don’t know. To me, there should be ways to find investors who can help keep the team around, not necessarily public financing. But again, this is just probably my heart speaking. I just think it’s awful when teams leave a city, leave an area and go elsewhere after so many years of history and connections to generations of fans. It’s really, really sad.”
The Warriors also are leaving Oakland. They will move to an 18,000-seat, privately funded arena in San Francisco before the start of the 2019-20 season. Kerr and others in the Golden State organization figure there is a stark difference between moving within the same metropolitan area and moving to another state.
After Tuesday’s win over the Rockets, forward Draymond Green called the Raiders’ move “ridiculous,” and said he doesn’t plan to attend any more of their games.
“That’s like moving the Dallas Cowboys or moving the (Green Bay) Packers,” Green said. “Moving the Raiders? You can move a lot of teams, but there aren’t many fan bases like the Raiders’ fan base. It’s like moving the Boston Celtics from Boston or the Lakers from Los Angeles. You just don’t move certain franchises.” Durant update: Forward Kevin Durant hasn’t experienced any setbacks in his rehab from a knee injury and will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days.
In the four weeks since he suffered a sprained MCL and bone bruise in his left knee, Durant has gone from hobbling on crutches to shooting in a chair to taking set shots. In recent days, he has been seen running wind sprints, hoisting jumpers and even dunking.
Whenever Durant returns, he will be on a minutes restriction for his first few games. The Warriors hope that the eighttime All-Star will return before the playoffs start.