The Santa Cruz Warriors, the NBA G League affiliate of the Golden State Warriors, announced Friday that David Fatoki has been named general manager and Seth Cooper will serve as head coach for the 2021-22 season.
Additional basketball operations staff roles, including the assistant coaching staff and training staff, will be announced at a later date.
Fatoki, who is entering his sixth overall season with the Warriors organization, started his career in Santa Cruz as a basketball operations coordinator/player development coach during the 2016-17 season and basketball operations manager during the ’17-18 campaign. He transitioned to assistant manager of basketball operations and GSW Ventures at Golden State in ’18, where his duties included college and professional scouting, among other responsibilities.
Cooper, who is entering his third season with the Warriors franchise, spent the past two seasons as a player development coach with Golden State. Prior to joining the Warriors, Cooper was an assistant coach at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Previously, he spent two years as the associate head coach for the Maine Red Claws, the G League affiliate of the Boston Celtics. During Cooper’s two seasons with the Celtics organization, the Red Claws won division titles both years and had a total of eight players sign NBA contracts.
Ryan Atkinson, who served as Santa Cruz’s general manger from 2019-2021, has transitioned to director, team development with Golden State. Under Atkinson’s guidance, seven players earned NBA callups, including Axel Toupane with the 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Kris Weems, who served as Santa Cruz’s head coach from 2019-21, has moved into a player development role with Golden State. Weems led the Sea Dubs to an 11-4 regular season record and a berth in the semifinals, losing to the eventual champions, the Lakeland Magic, during the 2020-21 season in the Orlando bubble in Florida.
“I had an amazing experience in Santa Cruz as an assistant and head coach,” Weems said. “The trust that Steve (Kerr) and the organization showed me is even more special now that I’m joining the Golden State Warriors coaching staff for the second time.
“I get to be around the pillars of the organization, like Steph (Curry), Draymond (Green), Klay (Thompson), Kevon Looney and Andre Igoudala, with a chance to do something special this year. I’m looking forward to building deeper connections with the staff and players as this place as always felt like home.”
He posted a 21-21 record in 2019-20, which was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mike Lee, an assistant coach in Santa Cruz from 2017-21, has transitioned to a pro scout role with Golden State. Lee served under Weems, as well as former Santa Cruz Head Coach Aaron Miles.
