There’s more to the relationship between Macklin Celebrini and Steve Kerr than the fact that both are sports stars located in the Bay Area.
The connection between the Golden State Warriors coach and the San Jose Sharks phenom — who is representing Canada during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina — goes back much further and deeper than that.
Celebrini actually spent a lot of time around the Warriors while growing up, as his dad, Rick, is a longtime member of the team’s staff and currently serves in the role of Vice President of Player Health and Performance.
During a press conference on Monday night, Kerr was asked about the first-overall pick from the 2024 NHL draft and said that he is a huge fan of the rising hockey superstar.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Kerr said of Celebrini’s emergence and inclusion on Team Canada. “I can’t wait to watch him play in the Olympics and Rick is heading over there with the family to see him, which is really exciting.”
Kerr also said that he has been keeping a close eye on Celebrini, regularly checking out Sharks box scores.
“I follow it. I look at the box scores every day and they’re really having a great turnaround season. It’s so fun to see Mack doing so well, especially the context of it all. He was hanging around here as a kid who was about 14 and now, all of the sudden, he’s in the MVP race in the NHL as a rookie … I guess second year.”
In just his second season, Celebini has been lighting up the NHL. In his 55 games before heading to the Winter Olympics in Italy, the star forward has racked up 28 goals and 53 assists for 81 points. That total already has blown by his rookie numbers of 25 goals and 38 assists in 70 games.
“It’s always fun seeing Rick and talking to him about the games,” Kerr added. “Sometimes on the team flight, Rick will be watching the Sharks game on his phone. It’s really been a lot of fun to see it vicariously through Rick. Proud dad.”
How good has Celebrini been?
Celebrini finished third in Calder Trophy voting for rookie of year behind Montreal’s Lane Hutson and Calgary goaltender Dustin Wolf, but this year has stepped into the MVP conversation.
He ranks behind only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in terms of betting odds for the award, while Edmonton’s Connor McDavid sits in third, the three stars will get the chance to play together for Canada at the Olympics. The team’s first game against Czechia is set for Thursday morning.
Kerr has some Olympic experience of his own, serving as the head coach for the USA Men’s Basketball team at the Paris 2024 Olympics, leading them to a gold medal.
He also won gold at the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 while serving as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich.