SAN FRANCISCO – Steve Kerr has come to a decision about his future after more than three weeks of deliberation.
Kerr will remain the Warriors’ coach after agreeing to a new two-year contract on Saturday, a league source confirmed to the Bay Area News Group. Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the deal will reportedly make Kerr the highest-paid coach in the league, although the exact terms are not known at this time.
Kerr coached all of last season on an expiring contract as the team went just 37-45 and suffered through a brutal spell of injuries to key players.
At his exit interview in Phoenix earlier this month, Kerr said he wanted to meet with team owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy before making a decision about whether or not to walk away from coaching Steph Curry and the Warriors.
Kerr ultimately decided to return for another season with Curry and Draymond Green, but there was uncertainty for over three weeks.
Kerr had been meeting with media agents, Front Office Sports reported the week after the season ended, signaling a willingness to return to broadcasting.
ESPN had reported that the Warriors’ upper management wanted Kerr to modernize his offense, which some saw as too reliant on 3-point variance, and shake up his coaching staff.
Another area of friction was Kerr’s willingness to weigh in on social issues – often on matters of gun violence – as noted by ESPN’s Marc J. Spears.
The Warriors, according to Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor, began looking into current Florida coach Todd Golden, a Saint Mary’s alum and former USF coach, as a potential replacement if the 60-year-old Kerr did not return.
Golden responded to the speculation last week by telling reporters that “I’m definitely planning on coaching the Gators” next season.
All of that speculation was for naught.
Kerr met with Lacob and Dunleavy last week, and then convened again earlier this week before agreeing to a new deal, fending off a reported offer from ESPN to rejoin the broadcasting booth.
In a dozen years on the job, Kerr has gone 604-353, a run that saw him win four titles, reach two additional NBA Finals and pass Al Attles for the franchise coaching wins record last March. He is 104-48 in the playoffs.
Kerr earned the 2015-16 NBA Coach of the Year award after guiding the Warriors to an NBA-record 73-9 mark during the regular season.
The Warriors have slipped since the epic highs of winning three titles in four years from 2015-18, but they captured one more championship under Kerr in 2022.
Prior to coaching the Warriors, Kerr enjoyed a 15-year NBA playing career from 1988 until 2003. He won five titles – three with the Bulls and two more with the Spurs – and retired with the NBA record for career 3-point accuracy with a 45.4% mark, a record he still owns.
After his playing days were over, Kerr worked as a basketball analyst for TNT, then was an executive with the Suns from 2007-10. Phoenix reached the Western Conference Finals in his final year as general manager.
Kerr then transitioned back into broadcasting with TNT before replacing Mark Jackson with the Warriors in 2014, his first-ever professional coaching job. Golden State won the NBA Finals over Cleveland in his first year and reached the Finals in each of his first five seasons.
With his decision made, Kerr will have a busy summer.
The NBA draft lottery is on Sunday and the draft is on June 23. Free agency is expected to begin on June 30, and Summer League then starts in early July.