Golden State Warriors are set to add two familiar faces to their staff ahead of the 2020/21 NBA season. The organization announced earlier this week that Leandro Barbosa, who helped the team win the NBA Title in 2015, and Shaun Livingston, part of championship-winning squads in 2015, 2016, and 2017, will re-join the Warriors in non-playing roles.
Barbosa, who retired last year, will be part of head coach Steve Kerr’s staff according to the team. The 37-year-old player will serve as a player mentor coach.
“He’s been my coach, when I was here he also was my friend,” said Barbosa of Kerr, with whom he collaborated on several occasions. “We had a really close relationship when he was a GM for the Phoenix Suns, so every once in a while we used to talk. And he mentioned to me what I want to do after I played, and I always told him that I wanted to be an assistant coach, not a head coach, but be able to talk to the players, kind of teach them, I think I’m kind of good at that.”
Barbosa comes with 14 years of NBA experience, having played with Suns, Warriors, Indiana Pacers, and Boston Celtics, among other teams.
Shaun Livingston, on the other hand, will take a front-office role. Livingston will work alongside general manager Bob Myers and will have the role of director of team affairs and player engagement.
Livingston played for Golden State between 2014 and 2019 and was an important bench contributor in each of the team’s title runs. He was waived by the Warriors following the 2018/19 season as part of salary saves and decided to retire after that.
