Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry reveals Barcelona 'tiki-taka' influence on NBA titles

Suraj Radia

• Updated: 6 Nov 2025 18:37 CST
• 4 min read

News

NBA star Steph Curry has revealed that coach Steve Kerr showed his Golden State Warriors players clips of Barcelona’s ‘tiki-taka’ football to help create his team’s legendary identity.

Kerr has led the Warriors to four NBA championship titles since taking over in 2014, with Curry and his teammates being known for their free-flowing, entertaining and dominating displays at their peak.

Curry explained how Kerr helped turn the team from a largely average side into one of the most successful teams in NBA history by taking influences from Barcelona, although the 37-year-old admitted it ‘took a minute’ to adapt to the style.

"He was like, 'I just wanna make a couple of tweaks to the way that we're creating shots,'" Curry said in the latest Mind the Game podcast with LeBron James and Steve Nash.

“So, once we got in training camp, he showed a clip of Barcelona’s tiki-taka, and he was talking about that as a philosophy of how we're gonna create shots, how we're gonna keep things simple, make the defense have to make a million decisions in a possession, so that you can find the right shot," he added.

"It took a minute to be comfortable with not calling a play and just letting the ball kind of dictate where you're supposed to be but it helped optimise Coach Kerr’s philosophy.”

Golden State Warriors coach speaks about football influence in coaching

Only five coaches have won more NBA titles than Kerr and the 60-year-old has regularly spoken of taking influence from football with his coaching due to his strong passion for the sport and the success of Barcelona’s philosophy.

“I show the guys some football highlights, I show them the importance of possession, of making simple plays while controlling the ball,” Kerr told Mundo Deportivo in 2023. “There are parallels between basketball and football, or soccer.

“As a coach, it’s good to show the players some highlights and metaphors from other sports. They tend to listen more because it’s something new, they already play basketball every day, and they like it.”

Kerr had also told El Pais last year of how the tiki-taka approach manifested on the court for his Warriors team and detailed some of the similarities with the approach.

“Our Warriors’ identity is also based on passing, and I really believe in the power of passing. If you can connect the game and the players, you can connect people emotionally. That’s why I taught tiki-taka to my guys.

“They really liked it, and years later, when I had forgotten all about it, we made a great play with a lot of passes to get a layup and Klay Thompson, from the other side of the court, looked at me and yelled, ‘tiki-taka!’ The concept stuck with them.

“In general, soccer and basketball share a lot of triangles, three-man actions. If you notice, basketball players who grew up playing soccer have a better vision of the court and greater clarity in decision-making.”

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