Sharks star Macklin Celebrini has been one of the stars of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, and it’s not the first time the 19-year-old has caught the attention of his Bay Area sports counterparts.
Celebrini’s success particularly is exciting for the Warriors, given that his father, Rick, has been the team’s director of sports medicine and performance since 2018.
That connection has made Golden State honorary fans of Team Canada over the past two weeks, when Celebrini has scored five goals and added five assists in five games thus far.
Steve Kerr detailed the experience watching Celebrini in an interview Friday with 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs” show.
“This has been so much fun for all of us, but especially for Rick and his family to watch Macklin,” Kerr told Mark Willard and Dan Dibley. “This morning, we were getting ready to start our film session, and the Canada game was 2-2 in the final minutes. Basically the whole team was watching the last two minutes. We saw them score, and everybody went nuts. We’re all so thrilled for Macklin and his family and Rick. So it’s been fun to follow.”
Rick has been away from the Warriors to watch his son in Milan, though Kerr revealed they’ve had daily communication from across the Atlantic. And though Sunday’s gold medal game against the United States is set for just after 5 a.m. PT, Kerr confirmed he’ll be watching.
However, when asked who he’s rooting for, Kerr wouldn’t give a strong answer: “I love my country, and I love the Celebrini family.”
The Warriors coach discussed the young phenom more after Saturday’s practice, even adding in some classic Kerr banter aimed at the elder Celebrini.
“It’s been so fun when they flash to Rick and the family in the stands, you know, to see the joy on their faces, the pride,” Kerr told reporters (h/t Kenzo Fukuda). “And then watching Macklin — I don’t know a ton about hockey, but it’s pretty obvious that at 19 he’s one of their most trusted players and seems to be on the ice an awful lot at the most critical times.
“Pretty remarkable at that age that he can become that trusted, that good, this quickly, especially in the face of such poor parenting growing up. I don’t know how he’s been able to overcome. Thank God for [Rick’s wife] Robyn [Celebrini], that’s what I would say. The mom clearly has done all the work.”
As a former teammate of players like Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan, as well as Steph Curry’s longtime coach, Kerr has been around his fair share of legendary athletes. And though he’s admittedly not the sharpest hockey mind, he offered some interesting cross-sport insight into Celebrini’s success.
“What I feel is that Macklin has the combination that is so rare of incredible talent and unbelievable leadership, maturity, humanity. Just he gets it. He gets it, at 19,” Kerr explained. “It usually takes guys years to be mature enough to understand how to compete, how to conduct yourself, how to treat your teammates, and not to make the Steph comparison, but that’s what it takes to be a superstar. It’s not just the talent, it’s the intangibles, and Macklin seems to have the intangibles.
“I couldn’t have told you that, you know, five years ago when he was in here training or even two years ago. We just knew he was a really good prospect, but yeah, it’s impressive to watch.”
Some Golden State players also shared some high praise of Celebrini, with Gary Payton II even making comparisons to hockey legends like Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
He also had a stern directive for the Bay Area.
“Five a.m., go watch Mack. All right?” Payton said to close his presser Saturday (h/t Ben Ross). “Everybody wake up in the Bay. Go watch Mack.”
Like Kerr, Moses Moody lauded Celebrini’s intangibles just from his limited interactions with the Sharks star.
“Like this silent confidence and competitiveness, composure,” Moody said (h/t Joseph Dycus). “I’ve seen something; he’s got that look in his eye. But Mack, he’s got that silent confidence too. Well, I don’t know him for real, but, like, being around him, he doesn’t overdo it, but you can tell he’s working, he’s precise. In conversation, you can just tell when somebody’s a thinker more than a talker type of guy, and that’s how he seems like.”
In other words, it might not be unfair to say that the Warriors — many of them with at least one NBA championship to their resume — are looking up in reverence, in a sense, to a teenager who not long ago was just a kid running around the Golden State facility after games and practices.
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