SAN FRANCISCO– Of all the celebs the Golden State Warriors get credit for developing, Macklin Celebrini, a hockey player of all things, might turn into one in all the brightest of all of them.
Son of Rick Celebrini, the Golden State’s heralded Vice President of Player Health and Performance, 19-year-old Macklin has risen to superstar status each within the NHL for the revamped San Jose Sharks and Team Canada on the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. It is a miraculous ascension that has not only the hockey world in a frenzy but in addition the complete Warriors organization cheering him on.
Ahead of Celebrini and Team Canada’s highly anticipated gold medal match with Team USA, Dubs coach Steve Kerr talked at length concerning the internal excitement for the child they used to look at shoot hoops after practice along with his dad and among the players.
“It has been so fun,” Kerr said. “Yesterday, on the film session, we had half the team watching the ultimate two minutes of the sport, since it was 2-2. It was 10 o’clock, and we’re purported to be starting film, and we’re like, ‘Nope, we’re gonna watch to see what happens.’”
What happened was Canada advancing past Finland in the ultimate minute of the third period, and Celebrini completing a team-high 25:53 TOI – an unbelievable achievement for a player that young.
But before becoming the youngest-ever NHL player on Canada’s men’s Olympic team, when he wasn’t training on the ice, Celebrini was on the hardwood. Kerr recounted the many occasions when Macklin and his brothers would play 2-on-2 full court within the Dubs’ facilities after practice. You read that right, 2-on-2, full court, along with his mother, Robin, hopping in because the fourth player to make for a fair split.
“You ought to see an athletic family in motion,” Kerr laughed. “It’s one in all the fun parts of the job, seeing the families be an element of it… It’s the most effective parts of the job. Once we finish games, every game, win or lose, we open up the doors to the family room, and the children come flooding in, and it’s just awesome.
“I sit up in my office, I even have a beer, and I look down, and I see these little pickup games happening with our players’ kids and coaches’ kids. People running around and players coming out, hugging their kids prefer it’s this can be a special career, you already know, to give you the chance to share together with your kids they usually, you already know, memories for a lifetime, but in addition good perspective for everyone.”
Whether Kerr and the Warriors were capable of see early hints at what Celebrini would turn into, it’s up for debate. For Moses Moody, who recounted the time the 2 spent rehabbing their individual injuries over the summer, he all the time knew Celebrini was destined for greatness.
“You recognize that trend that was going around with LeBron? Saying how he knew from the start?” Moody grinned. “Yeah, back once I first came, I seen him and he had that look in his eye! And I said he’ll be– nah, I’m kidding.”
Though Moody did not have the prescient vision LeBron James is blessed with when it got here to Macklin, he’s putting his chips in early on his youngest brother, RJ.
“Really, his little brother, the youngest brother. I talked to him for some time, and he really, he really does have this like this silent confidence and competitiveness, composure. I’m saying it beforehand with that one. I see something; he got a glance in his eye. But Mack too– he’s got that silent confidence too… being around him, he doesn’t overdo it. But you possibly can tell he’s working. He’s precise in conversation, you possibly can, you possibly can just tell when anyone’s a thinker, greater than a talker kind of guy.”
In that vein, Kerr likened Celebrini’s maturity and leadership to a different superstar– Stephen Curry. The intangibles you possibly can’t teach Kerr described. Where those traits can take him, the sky is the limit. But in the event you ask Gary Payton II, he believes Celebrini can etch his name among the many greats.
“I feel like he’ll find yourself being one in all those, when it’s all said and done, like Wayne, Sid, Alex, Mack,” Payton said. “It’s exciting to see it from the beginning. [We’ll] see where it goes, and it’s going pretty, pretty rattling good straight away… I’m rooting for Mack obviously.”
Even with the unbelievable probability to stay it to Team USA tomorrow on the worldwide stage, Celebrini’s just getting began. But for a Warriors organization that got to see one in all their very own literally grow up into the star everyone else sees today, it is a special, special thing.
“Everybody’s engaged, especially the blokes who’ve been here for some time, who know Rick so well, and Macklin and the family,” Kerr said. “So it’s pretty cool to see all of it develop. And to see the pride in Rick’s eyes and hearing it in his voice, it’s wonderful.”