Why Steve Kerr believes NBA will allow Warriors to hold ‘minicamp'

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The Warriors' last game before the 2019-20 NBA season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic came on March 10.

On Thursday, the league announced that its tentative plan for the 2020-21 campaign is for training camps to open Nov. 10 with Opening Night scheduled for Dec. 1.

"The one thing that we are interested in is doing some kind of a minicamp if the league will allow it," Golden State coach Steve Kerr told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami this week. "Otherwise, eight months is a long time to go without any basketball at all. And that's what it would be.

"We'd like to get together for some kind of minicamp or two. I'm thinking that the league will allow us to do something, especially given that 22 teams are gonna be playing and eight of us are not. I'm fairly certain the league will allow the other eight teams to do some practicing at some point whenever the time is right."

Warriors players were allowed to begin using Chase Center facilities this week for voluntary workouts. But that's very different from the entire team and coaching staff getting together in an official capacity.

If the NBA allows the Dubs the ability to congregate, would this include Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green?

"Oh yeah, 100 percent," Kerr said. "This is different, but everything's different now. I have no doubt our players would be all-in. It would almost be like (how) NFL teams have their OTAs.

"That's what I picture -- where we get everybody together and we're able to install offensive actions that we want to run next year, defensive schemes -- that kind of thing."

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Klay has not played since he tore his left ACL during Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals on June 13, and Steph appeared in only five games this season.

The Warriors very much want Andrew Wiggins to get accustomed to playing with the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green, so any practice time would be beneficial.

[RELATED: Why Kerr, Warriors need more time to prepare for the draft]

Furthermore, it's very important for young players like Eric Paschall, Jordan Poole and Alen Smailagic to continue their development.

"Get our guys on the training table and in the weight room and with our strength coaches for checkups," Kerr explained. "They're all on programs right now and they're doing certain things, but they're not really able to work with our staff."

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