The final decision on how the Warriors will proceed with their No. 2 overall pick in October's draft likely will lie with two people: General manager Bob Myers and CEO Joe Lacob. The team could try and package the pick in a trade for a more established player already in the NBA, or get the chance to nab a prospect from this year's polarizing draft class.
Although Myers and Kerr will have final on any trade and in the Warriors' draft room, Golden State's GM emphasized that he wants coach Steve Kerr's input on the process in an exclusive interview following Thursday night's NBA draft lottery with NBC Sports Bay Area's Greg Papa. In fact, Myers revealed that Kerr had called in the middle of Myers' conversation with Papa to talk draft.
"Enough that he tried to interrupt our little interview here and call me. I declined the call," Myers said. "We'll talk tonight, I'm sure. But look -- Steve's great. Steve wants to win, and Steve's been a GM, and he's been involved in a lot of different organizations, highly successful organizations. I completely respect and value his opinion. He's gotta be a partner in this. When you draft a player at No. 2, you certainly do that with the approval of your coach. It's a partnership, it's a collaboration. You shouldn't do it any other way."
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Before the dismal 2019-20 season, the Warriors had advanced all the way to the NBA Finals in each of Kerr's first five years at the helm. So this will be the first time Kerr has the chance to draft in the lottery.
But as Myers noted, Kerr has plenty of executive experience. He served as the general manager for the Phoenix Suns from 2007 through '10, so he understands better than the most the pressure facing a GM who holds a top-five draft pick.
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Kerr told 95.7 The Game earlier this week that he has been primarily focused on scouting the players scouting players in the lottery, but also has scoped out some prospects the team could eye later in the draft.
Golden State Warriors
"Mostly the lottery pick guys, and we have our staff who really is looking at everybody," Kerr said Wednesday on "Damon, Ratto & Kolsky." "They'll send me tape on guys who they think we'll have a shot at in the second round as well, so I've seen tape of a lot of the guys that will potentially be second-rounders, but the vast majority of my time has been on the lottery picks because that's the one where we're really investing a ton of money into.
"But as we know, in our very recent experience, you can get a guy in the second round who ends up being much more impactful than the first guy you take."
It'll be fun to see what Kerr, Myers and Lacob ultimately decide to do with such a valuable asset.