Steve Kerr's childhood home within the Pacific Palisades burned down within the devastating Los Angeles County fires, this news organization confirmed Wednesday.

The Warriors head coach spent much of his childhood each at home and abroad along with his parents within the Middle East.

Kerr's mother, Ann, still lives in the home. She turned 90 in August.

The San Francisco Chronicle was the one report first the news.

More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed within the Palisades fire, essentially the most destructive in LA's modern history. As of Wednesday afternoon, the three fires had killed five people and burned a complete of as much as 1,500 buildings, with greater than 100,000 people being forcibly evacuated. In Palisades Village, the general public library, two large grocery stores, two banks and a number of other boutiques were destroyed.

The wildfires began on Tuesday morning. California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency.

“I want to express my thoughts and condolences to everyone in Los Angeles who is dealing with the fires,” Kerr said Tuesday after the Warriors' loss to the Heat. “My mother had to be evacuated. Everett Dayton is on our team (in player development), he grew up in Pacific Palisades and as far as I know his family home is lost.”

According to CNN, the fires may very well be the most costly in U.S. history.

The Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and parts of Brentwood are among the many areas under either an evacuation order or warning.

Draymond Green has a house in Brentwood, much of which is being evacuated. Green's family is protected, his mother, Mary Babers, told this news organization. Green reportedly purchased the property in 2020 for $9.6 million.

Kerr and Green are only two of dozens of public figures whose homes have been evacuated as a result of the three fires within the Los Angeles area.

The fires have destroyed a complete of about 42 square miles (108 square kilometers) – almost the scale of the complete city of San Francisco.

Originally published: January 8, 2025 at 6:26 pm PST

SAN FRANCISCO — Sixty-five minutes before game time, Jonathan Kuminga stood at his locker after pregame sprints across the ground of the Warriors' practice room at Chase Center. While he was warming up, ESPN reported that the Warriors would bring him off the bench although Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and De'Anthony Melton were unavailable.

Kuminga said he had not yet personally spoken to Steve Kerr in regards to the decision.

“It’s his decision,” Kuminga said. “I am not the coach. When Steve has made his decision, he has made his decision. I’m not the coach.”

Kuminga said he's “not upset” about coming off the bench, but that there may be growing skepticism in Kuminga's camp about Kerr's commitment to using the wing in Golden State's offense.

Just three games into the season, after Kuminga's camp and the Warriors failed to succeed in an agreement on a rookie extension, tensions are simmering between the 2 teams.

Negotiations between the Warriors and Kuminga never got off to a serious start before the rookie extension deadline. The Warriors valued the in-season flexibility that may have been lost in the event that they had prolonged Kuminga. Kuminga's camp was not adamant in regards to the maximum contract, but never received offers that they considered fair market value, in accordance with sources.

On Tuesday night, Kerr declined to announce a starting lineup in his pregame press conference. When asked directly whether Kuminga would start, he replied: “Possibly.”

Kerr then didn't need to answer questions on his starting lineup of Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis before the sport. It appears the Warriors prioritized Moody's 3-point shooting over Kuminga's downhill threat and maintained the continuity of Green and Jackson-Davis.

The decision to take Kuminga off the bench against New Orleans is a surprising decision by the coaching staff. With Curry, Wiggins and Melton each out as a result of injury, the sport changed into one by which the Warriors had to make use of Kuminga heavily on offense. He averaged 16.1 points per game last season and is arguably Golden State's most talented scorer.

However, Kuminga struggled to start out the season. In the primary three games of the season, he averaged 8.0 points and three.3 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game. The big lineup with Kuminga as a small forward alongside two non-shooting bigs hasn't complemented his game yet, and the 12-man rotation Kerr uses has reduced his minutes.

“I never worry about such a small sample size,” Kerr said of Kuminga. “JK had a really good preseason, he will do it. We're going to need his strength, his athleticism. Tonight could be a big night for him in that regard, depending on how the game turns out. Of course, we played against twelve players in every game, which means it will be a little more difficult for each player to find their rhythm because they don't play as much. I'm not worried about JK at all. He’ll come over.”

Kuminga professionally answered questions at his locker before the sport, reiterating that he was not the coach and the choice was out of his hands. When asked whether he would like to start out or come off the bench, he said he was just here to play; He began 46 of 74 games last yr.

He also described the beginning to his season as “decent”.

“You’re not just going to come out of the gate and be perfect every time,” Kuminga said. “You try to figure things out, meet new people, the way we play. Different attack, different sets. So I just have to figure it out.”

The relationship between Kerr and Kuminga is a feast for the eyes. Last season, after Kerr benched Kuminga for the ultimate 18 minutes of a loss to Denver, The Athletic reported that Kuminga had “lost trust” in his coach.

Now, lower than per week into the season, the 2 have rather a lot to sort out.

“I’m used to it – this is my fourth year,” Kuminga said. “This is not the first time something like this has happened. As I said, I'm not the coach, that's his decision. We will follow his decision.”

The classic football axiom is that if you might have two quarterbacks capable of beginning a game, you don't even have a starting quarterback

Steve Kerr looks to show things around with the Warriors in 2024-25.

If you might have a 12-man rotation, is there even a rotation?

Last week, the Warriors coach said that reducing the Dubs' rotation to 10 or 11 players was the toughest a part of his job. You could feel the fear the mere thought instilled within the Warriors coach.

So before Wednesday's season opener, Kerr decided to not limit his rotation in any respect. He rolled 12.

After the stunning win in Portland, Kerr's concern wasn't about the potential for having too many cooks within the kitchen, but about his inability to expand the rotation to 13 players to present Lindy Waters an actual run.

In a word: A 12-man rotation is wild.

One option to take a look at it’s on the positive side – take a look at all the great players! – or negative – this team is stuffed with unremarkable options.

I can imagine that opinions will change in consequence of the sport.

But it worked on Wednesday, as Kerr played the complete shift of hockey in a 139-104 win and Steph Curry was capable of miss the second half of the third quarter and all the fourth quarter.

Here are 12 more thoughts on the sport – one for every rotation point.

• This 12-man rotation won't last, but that's as a consequence of inevitable injuries and rest, not the sport.

The presumed reason the Warriors went with 12 players on Wednesday is because they were playing a powerful team and were capable of essentially extend the preseason.

But that will only be the case if it appeared the Warriors were playing for jobs. That's not the sensation I got from Wednesday's competition. Kerr didn't need more time to determine who his top ten players were; Rather, he desires to experiment with how best to make use of 12 players. That's a giant difference and makes the beginning of the season all of the more interesting.

• One such experiment involves finding a option to play Jonathan Kuminga greater than 25 minutes an evening without lining him up next to Draymond Green on the fifth spot. (That's for Green's sake.) The trade-off is strange – Green on the 4, Kuminga at the three (yikes), and Andrew Wiggins at shooting guard.

Even for somebody like me who thinks the position concepts are outdated, it is a hard sell. Conceptually, the Warriors' size with this lineup (Trayce Jackson-Davis and Steph Curry were at the underside) should provide some defensive power, however it's three slashers, a roller and Curry. Is it any surprise that the Dubs opened the sport with a 2:13 win?

I didn't see any defensive benefits with this lineup on Wednesday, but that was only one game.

• Ironically, the “big” lineup Kerr began in was shorter at each position than the Blazers' starting lineup on Wednesday.

• The Warriors desired to dispel the concept that Buddy Hield was dropped at San Francisco to exchange Klay Thompson.

But that, dear friends, is precisely what Hield is.

To be clear: I'm not talking about replacing the All-Star version of Thompson, the most effective two-way players in recent NBA history. No, I'm talking about Thompson post-injury, specifically the version of the long run Hall of Famer we saw last season.

You probably remember how Kerr wanted Thompson to return off the bench because the team's sixth man – the second-unit shooter. It was so well received that Thompson voluntarily moved to Texas.

But Hield is precisely what Kerr desired to be for Thompson. Honestly, it's a job that will actually be perfect for Thompson if only ego didn't get in the way in which.

As far as I can tell, Hield doesn't have these problems. First to be announced, first off the bench or twelfth man, the wing just desires to shoot. Whether it really works or not, he complains. And with the Warriors desirous to flood the stats with 3-point attempts every night (remember after they despised the Houston Rockets' methods?), Hield's temperament is ideal, even when his shot rarely reaches the extent of perfection will achieve what we saw on Wednesday.

• My goodness, did the Warriors blow it on Wednesday? In total, the Dubs made 48 3-pointers, tying the team's most in a four-quarter game last season. (The Warriors had three contests last season by which they made greater than 48 3-pointers; all three games went to at the very least one time beyond regulation.)

• The important chuckers were De'Anthony Melton and Moses Moody with eight. They took a 5:16 lead from the ground. Meanwhile, Andrew Wiggins, Curry and Hield all attempted seven 3-pointers – satirically, Curry had the worst shooting night.

• Of Wiggins' seven three-point attempts, five were shots over the break from the left wing. That's his spot (66 attempts last season), even when he's a greater shooter from the proper wing (20 of 43).

• It was good to see Moody play on Wednesday. The contract extension definitely helped reduce playing time, but his excellent pre-season justified every minute he spent on the pitch. It wasn't an important shooting night for Moody, but he has a good leash from me (at the very least) considering how hot his hand got here into the campaign.

• Wednesday was a tricky game for Kuminga, who made a habit of fumbling the ball under the basket, took several shots early and by some means made up for many of it with a pleasant cut that led to some nice up-and-down play. under layup.

• If the Warriors find themselves at a degree of utmost desperation in a number of months, they might do so much worse than drafting Jerami Grant from the Blazers.

• I don't wish to lose track here, however the 12-man rotation worked on Wednesday. The Warriors' depth won a game by which the starting lineup was slow to return out. Golden State's bench outscored Portland's bench by 33 points. The Warriors won by 35 points.

• Draymond Green received a technical foul on this game for complaining to the referees. Green wasn't improper in his accusation, but he couldn't hold back although the crew gave him loads of opportunity to make his case without repercussions. Everyone's patience has a limit.

I won't proselytize Green or punish him for losing his temper. We have loads of time for that, perhaps even in close games.

Instead, what I need to say is that for all of the preseason speak about how Green must be available to his team and the way he must rein in his emotions to make that occur, it's a transparent, not-safe-for-kids-ears reminder that a Tiger doesn't change his stripes. What makes Green great also makes him a liability for the Warriors – the road between risk and reward is thin and Green plays so hard that he can't help but go over it. It's been happening very often currently.

I even have no problem with that. Maybe I've change into numb to Green. Maybe the nostalgia for the player he once was is just too strong. But let's not pretend that anyone would change or “fix” a person with hundreds of thousands within the bank, 4 rings on his fingers and a gray beard. He is what he’s.

That's the excellent news for the Warriors. That's also the bad news.

Originally published: October 24, 2024 at 1:45 p.m