Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday he reached out to Kelly Oubre and told him to ignore recent trade rumors surrounding the struggling forward.
"Yeah, I talked to him about it," Kerr told reporters after Golden State's 123-111 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. "It's unfortunate. A team called us and asked ... and didn't even make an offer. Just asked about Kelly. Next thing we know it's online. This is sort of the modern NBA."
Earlier Wednesday, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that the New Orleans Pelicans discussed a potential Oubre trade with the Warriors.
"This is where (players earn their) money," Kerr added. "The basketball part is the easy part. Packing up your family and leaving, getting injured, getting booed, or reading your name in trade rumors, those things are not easy. ... We texted this afternoon, and then I told him just now how proud I was. Because it's not easy to play through that stuff. He came in and had one of his best games."
Oubre shot a season-best 78% from the floor Wednesday, scoring 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds. The 25-year-old began the season ice-cold, missing his first 17 attempted 3-pointers.
He said after the win that Kerr's words were encouraging.
"I was really blessed to hear from him in the midst of something that's very controversial in one's life," Oubre said.
"For him to just reach out and just talk me through it, it's been great," he added. "It did not affect my game tonight. At the end of the day, I'm just a Warrior, like I told him let's go get this f------ win."
