As the Golden State Warriors continue to navigate their season, which was dubbed the “toughest opening stretch” by head coach Steve Kerr and included 17 games in 29 days across 13 cities, the exhaustion behind the scenes has become difficult to ignore. While this appeared to be a problem limited to the Dubs at first, more teams soon felt the effects of the 82-game season.

And so, league insiders are now quietly pushing for a change, according to the championship-winning head coach. During his recent appearance on the 95.7 The Game’s Willard and Dibs show, Kerr confirmed that several people are getting frustrated with the longevity of the regular season. “I think there are a lot of people out there who feel like we could, we could do some work on the schedule,” he said.

“There’s a lot to talk about for sure,” he concluded. Steve Kerr has been a critic of the NBA’s schedule for the longest. He’s previously spoken about how players are being played more than they should, and that is causing them to miss games. The veteran, during one such instance, also pointed out how, despite wanting to put on a show for fans, he was unable to do so because he’s also got to protect players like Stephen Curry.

Take the Warriors’ current injury crisis, for example. Curry has missed each of his team’s last 22 games due to runner’s knee. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler has already been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury. Not to mention, there are numerous other players on the franchise’s injury list. Now, it’s unclear whether if the schedule was shortened or adjusted in any way, these injuries would not have occurred.

However, given the increasing number of Achilles and other serious injuries in the league, it is only fair for the league to hold meaningful discussions with stakeholders. Kerr has suggested that the league reduce the regular season by at least ten games. He’s saying this not only because of the league’s increased workload on the court, but also for travel purposes, which is another major issue for almost every NBA team.

“I mean, I’ll tell you with our road trip that we’ve just been on, towards 4 different times, we landed at 2-3 in the morning local time, including last night,” Kerr pointed out. “Last night was actually, we landed at 3:10. We, we have just been on the worst time frame, the worst road trip.” However, while it’s pretty evident through Kerr’s statements that the 82-game season is a lot for the players as well as the staff, the NBA, at the end of the day, is a business.

So, even though shortening the season would help the players recover well and even make them available for more games, it would also mean less revenue. That means it would take a lot to convince the league regarding this matter. Nonetheless, while Steve Kerr and the rest of the people alongside him navigate through this issue, his team has faced another huge setback with 10 games to go.

Steve Kerr makes a tough confession about Stephen Curry’s injury

Although Steve Kerr continues to lead the charge to bring about a change in the NBA schedule, the damage has already been done. Ahead of this weekend, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry was set to participate in scrimmages with his team, marking a major milestone in his recovery from his troubling runner’s knee complications.

This would’ve been a massive boost for the Dubs, who are going through a crucial final stretch of the season as they hope to break into the play-in tournament. However, that was delayed with Steph Curry reportedly not in the position he was supposed to be in to make a return. That said, this has now prompted Steve Kerr to make an admission he probably didn’t have to.

“If we don’t feel good about it, then he’s not going to play,” Kerr said. “We’re not pushing him into anything. If things aren’t really clear, Rick [Celebrini] has been adamant about that and very open with me and Mike [Dunleavy] over the last week, and he feels good about it. “But we’re down to 10 games left, and if there’s anything that’s a concern whatsoever, then that takes precedence and priority.”

It seems like Curry isn’t going to be available for the rest of the season, which is a bummer. That’s because he was having a great campaign and could’ve proved to be the decisive factor in the Warriors’ playoff bid. Now, they’ll have to do that without him, and with them playing still left to play the likes of Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, it surely will be an uphill battle for the Dubs.