© D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
Kelly Oubre had an enigmatic season with the Warriors in 2021. There were times when it felt like his explosiveness, both athletically and as a scorer, could fit with Stephen Curry. But to say it was ever close to a hand-in-glove fit would be delusional. It always felt like an uncomfortable pairing, which might just have been a product of the Warriors’ offense and Oubre being unaccustomed to it.
There was one point in the season when Steve Kerr, asked about the return of Klay Thompson, said Oubre would more than likely have to be a sixth man. Oubre didn’t seem to be warm to that idea during the season, and doesn’t appear so now, as he told Chris Haynes on a recent podcast.
“I don’t even want to speak and elaborate on much on that situation,” Oubre said. “But all I’ll tell you is that it put fire in my heart. It added more fuel to the fire.”
Posted Up w/ C. Haynes Pod: Pending free agent Kelly Oubre Jr. (@kellyoubrejr) on year with Warriors, how he adjusted to diminished role, on GS wanting him to come off bench next season, playing through injury & what he’s looking for in free-agency.
?: https://t.co/lGlXxTZvbK pic.twitter.com/zMBZahNC0T
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 6, 2021
Oubre said he viewed it in the sense that his production has improved but that he doesn’t feel like he’s been given a fair chance to succeed.
“Being 25 years old, the way that my career has been shaping out, the growth that I’ve shown in my career to go from the 15th pick to continuously have my numbers grow each and every year and my role and opportunity on the team to grow each and every year, to have a year where my opportunity is lessened, and then as the year goes on I’m put into this category of trying to shape out the future of the organization when I haven’t been given a fair opportunity to show what I can do on a large scale. Yeah, it is unfair.
“But all I could do was go do my job and play. Keep focused and be professional. I was just worried about playing basketball for the team, and now I’m blessed to be an unrestricted free agent.”