Steve Kerr’s son is Warriors’ next G League coach; ex-NBA big man Hayes joins front office

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is currently preparing USA Basketball for the FIBA World Cup later this month. A family celebration is in order when he returns from that overseas tournament.

The Warriors announced WednesAday morning that Nicholas Kerr will be the next head coach of their G League team in Santa Cruz.

Kerr, 30, has been an assistant coach in Santa Cruz for the last two seasons after working as a video coordinator for the NBA’s Warriors for four years under his father. Now he’ll be in charge of developing players who can make it to the NBA and help the Warriors’ aging star core.

The Warriors have an abundance of NBA pedigree, with five players having fathers who played in the league. Kirk Lacob, the team’s vice president of basketball operations since Bob Myers’ departure this summer, is the son of team owner Joe Lacob, whose other youngest son Kent was recently promoted to vice president of basketball operations.

Seth Cooper, the Warriors’ director of player development after leading the G League team for the last two seasons, will be replaced by the younger Kerr, a former Cal guard. Santa Cruz general manager David Fatoki has also been promoted to Warriors director of player development, though he will continue to oversee the team’s G League affiliate’s basketball operations.

These promotions are just a few of the numerous changes made to the Warriors’ coaching and basketball operations staffs this offseason.

Following Myers’ departure, the Warriors named Mike Dunleavy Jr. as general manager, and promoted Onsi Saleh to vice president of basketball strategy and team counsel, and Pabail Sidhu to vice president of basketball analytics and innovation. Ryan Atkinson has been promoted to senior director of basketball development, while Nanea McGuigan has been promoted to senior director of basketball administration and player programs.

Klint Carlson was also promoted to player development coach and video coordinator at Golden State.

Next season, the Warriors will also have several new faces. They hired Bay Area native Chuck Hayes as director of basketball operations, Tatiana Lampley as basketball operations coordinator, and Everett Dayton as video coordinator in the team’s player development department.

Hayes, who was born in San Leandro, was a standout at Modesto Christian before transferring to the University of Kentucky. He spent 11 seasons in the NBA with three different teams: the Houston Rockets, the Sacramento Kings, and the Toronto Raptors.

Hayes most recently worked in the Rockets’ front office.

In other news, Steve Kerr didn’t have to look far to find a replacement for Jama Mahlalela, who left this summer to become the head coach of his hometown Toronto Raptors. Kris Weems has been promoted to a front-bench position on Kerr’s staff.

Weems worked on Santa Cruz’s coaching staff for six years, including two seasons as head coach, before joining the NBA as a player development coach.