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The 2018-19 Golden State Warriors were a team unlike any other in the NBA during that era.

With two former MVP winners, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, being flanked by All-Stars Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and DeMarcus Cousins, the Dubs were a powerhouse squad that opposing teams thought was unstoppable.

According to Cousins, who signed with Golden State during that season, every player on the roster knew how good they were and acted like it.

In fact, he relayed that most of the time, they didn’t even bother to warm up for games for too long, knowing that it was likely they would still overwhelm their opponents on that night.

Head coach Steve Kerr strongly disagreed with this approach, condemning it as a “disrespectful” practice.

“Y’all are being disrespectful”

According to “Run Your Race” podcast host Theo Pinson, who played five seasons in the Association, teams usually come out of the dugout and do their warm-ups when there are 20 minutes left on the countdown to the game’s tip-off; 15 minutes was already pushing it.

Boogie, though, claimed the Warriors would jog to the court and put up shots when there were only six minutes to go before the game started.

“Man, it was so bad, bro,” Cousins exclaimed. “Steve used to be like, ‘Man, y’all are being disrespectful.’

There were times we were going out there with like six minutes on the clock. Steve’s like, ‘Man, you guys got to show some type of respect.’ We used to come like 10 on the clock, eight on the clock.”

As someone who thrived under the guidance and leadership of legendary head coaches like Phil Jackson of the Chicago Bulls and Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, Kerr was a stickler for punctuality and professionalism.

Although he was known for being a “player’s coach,” often consulting his team’s main guys on crucial team decisions, Steve also held his players accountable for their actions and behavior — not getting to the floor in a timely manner before tip-off was something he could not ignore.

The Warriors ultimately did what they came to do

Cousins explained that Kerr wasn’t necessarily pissed at them for not taking their warm-up seriously.

He knew and trusted his players enough to know that they would give their all on the court.

However, Steve also knew that the sight of his team not being on the floor until it was near game time wasn’t a good look, as it may have given the impression that they weren’t taking their opponents seriously.

“Steve’s just like, ‘Y’all got to do a better job,'” DeMarcus revealed.

“And Steve not even, like, he’s not even really tripping on the fact that we’re going out there late because he knows we’re showing up.

We going to do, we coming out, we going to do our job every night.”

“It was just the look of it. And it’s just like, this s—t getting a little disrespectful.

Steph like, ‘Guys, come on, man.’ Like, it was crazy. It’s insane, bro,” the big man concluded.

Boogie was right, though. The Dubs came and did their jobs every night, winning 57 games in the regular season before coming out of the West in the playoffs. Most say they would have won a third straight title had KD, DeMarcus and Klay not suffered injuries at different points of the postseason.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.