NEW ORLEANS — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr isn’t ready to reveal whether he plans to play Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook alongside Kevin Durant and the Warriors’ other three All-Stars in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game.
“I’ve definitely considered it,” Kerr told ESPN Radio on Thursday.
“The only thing that you have do as a coach in the All-Star Game is to parcel out the minutes. That’s it. You don’t draw up any plays. At least I don’t; I didn’t two years ago.
“So we’ve got to figure out the minutes and I have thought about it and I’m not going to share it with you here today.”
Kerr, Durant and Warriors All-Star guard Stephen Curry all sat down Thursday with ESPN Radio for interviews that will air Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
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Said Durant of the inevitable media focus looming in New Orleans as he and Westbrook become teammates again for a weekend: “Everybody loves drama, man. It feels like we’re in a big soap opera. A reality TV show. So many people want to know about our relationship, or a phone call, instead of worrying about the game, which is the most important thing. And I’m sure both of us and the rest of the players feel the same way.”
Asked who he’d like to see Kerr choose from the West squad to team with the four Golden State All-Stars, Durant said with a laugh: “Haven’t thought about that one. I know that’s the Million Dollar Question. Whoever he throws out there, man, I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
The Warriors enter the All-Star break at 47-9 in Durant’s first season in Golden State after he left Oklahoma City in free agency last July. In the face of a buzzer-to-buzzer hostile reception from the locals in his first game back in Oklahoma City as a visiting player, Durant scored 34 points last Saturday night to lead Golden State to victory in a 130-114 rout.
Asked about what it will be like to be on the same side with Westbrook just a week later, Curry said Thursday: “I feel like we’ll be mature enough to just enjoy being All-Stars and being in that locker room and what wearing the West All-Star jersey means and celebrating everybody’s accomplishments.
“Obviously there’s competition and there’s history and whatever you want to call it. But at the end of the day we’re all trying to push our games to the next level and continue to just raise the interest [in] the NBA as a whole and do special things. And I think we all fit into that category. [I] can’t speak for KD or Russ or whatever, but being at All-Star is a special thing and you want to respect that.”
The most likely icebreaker, according to Curry, is teammate Draymond Green.
“Honestly probably Draymond, ’cause he’s going to come in and just probably crack jokes and do something real loud and make it a locker room scene,” Curry said.
Said Durant: “All of our guys, we never take this moment from granted. This is very special to have four guys [from the same team] in the All-Star Game and to have your coach coaching you. So it’s pretty cool. We’ll see how it goes.”
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