Steve Kerr still believes in the Golden State Warriors. After a tumultuous season ended in a doomed title defense, though, the nine-time champion as player and coach knew his team needed the type of change sparked by Thursday's stunning trade of Jordan Poole for Chris Paul.

In wake of the Dubs swapping Poole for Paul mere hours before selecting Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis in the 2023 NBA Draft, Kerr discussed Golden State's “needed” new direction with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic.

“We’re going to be a lot different,” Kerr said. “The last thing I’m going to do is say anything about a team that just won a championship a year ago and then fought through a difficult season. Made a helluva run at the end of this year. I’ve loved this group that we’ve had the last couple years.

“But the biggest point is that we sensed we needed a shift. Didn’t mean we needed an overhaul, but we needed a shift of some sort. I think everybody in the organization sensed that. And it feels like we’ve made a pretty significant shift without giving up our identity and our sense of who we are as a team. I think, all in all, it’s a very positive shift.”

The cash-strapped Warriors have no means of adding outside free agents come June 30th beyond minimum contracts. Draymond Green is currently unsigned, but all indications suggest he'll be back on a long-term contract. With Poole already on the way out, Golden State doesn't have any big, realistic trade chips left beyond Jonathan Kuminga.

Barring a Kuminga trade, the revamped Dubs won't look much different come tipoff of training camp than they do right now. Is bringing in Paul, Podziemski, Jackson-Davis and a veteran on the minimum enough to vault them toward top-tier title contention next season? We'll start to find out come the fall, but any change from the failed status quo at least allows for that hopeful possibility.