Frank Vogel is going to Golden State. The Warriors agreed to hire the 53-year-old championship-winning coach as associate head coach under Steve Kerr, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Sunday, filling a significant void created by the departure of Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse, the team's top two assistants, both of whom left after last season.
Vogel is expected to take the primary role in defensive game-planning, the area Stotts and Stackhouse had led.
Vogel's hire is the most high-profile staff addition of Golden State's offseason, and it carries real credibility.
He led the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2020 NBA championship with a defense that held opponents to the lowest points-per-game average in the league.
He took the Indiana Pacers to two Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and 2014.
His most recent head coaching stop was Phoenix in 2023-24, a 49-33 season that ended in a first-round sweep by Minnesota. He spent the past two years on the Dallas Mavericks' staff, first as a consultant and then on the bench.
The Warriors this offseason are actively pursuing LeBron James, Steph Curry released a video to James this week as part of the recruitment, and also went after Anthony Davis before losing that race to a sign-and-trade.
The front office is building toward something. Adding a championship-winning defensive architect to Kerr's staff is the staff side of that same ambition.