There has been much speculation about head coach Steve Kerr's future with the Golden State Warriors amid another up-and-down season, as well as the recently concluded Jonathan Kuminga saga. However, none of that may actually matter in the end.
Rather, Kerr, who is in 12th season with the Warriors, may ultimately remain the head coach as long as the team's star player, Stephen Curry, remains in the Bay Area.
“Steve Kerr's future has been a talking point across the NBA, yet all signs point to him continuing on with Steph and Draymond. The Warriors will work out the details of a short-term deal if that is what Kerr would like,” ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel reported.
“All of the talk about the franchise not wanting him back is simply false, and there is nothing to suggest that Kerr's coaching staff or the Warriors have been preparing for this to be his last season. The Dubs would like Kerr to continue coaching as long as he wants, and sources said the idea has always been for Kerr and Curry to retire together.”
Although he had played in the NBA for 15 years and was a front-office executive for six, Kerr had never coached before succeeding Mark Jackson as the Warriors' head coach in 2014. In his first season, he helped Stephen Curry, then a one-time All-NBA and All-Star selection, become a back-to-back league MVP, including the NBA's first unanimous winner in 2016. Additionally, he, Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson led the Warriors to their first title in 40 years and then, with some help from the likes of Kevin Durant and Andrew Wiggins, three more within a decade, as well as a record-setting 73-win regular season.
Since their last title in 2022, though, the Warriors have failed to reach the same heights. The following season, while dealing with the aftermath of Green punching teammate Jordan Poole, they won nine fewer games and lost in the second round of the postseason. In 2024, Golden State, despite winning two more games than the year before, missed the playoffs altogether. Last year, after acquiring Jimmy Butler midseason, the Warriors beat the second-seeded Houston Rockets before being bounced by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Kerr has been criticized and questioned many times over the years, although possibly no more than for his handling of Kuminga, the team's seventh overall pick in 2021. Kuminga set career-highs for games played, starts, minutes, points, field-goal percentage, and free-throw percentage during the 2023-24 season, but he saw his playing time dwindle each of the next two seasons, including last year's playoffs and this year's regular season, when he recorded several DNPs because of Kerr's apparent lack of belief in him. Before last week's trade deadline, the Warriors finally traded Kuminga to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal that netted talented, albeit injury-prone big man Kristaps Porzingis.
Curry, who is in his 17th NBA season, signed a one-year, $62.6 million contract extension with Golden State back in August 2024, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Despite nearing age 38 and currently dealing with a knee injury, Curry is averaging 27 points per game this season, his most in three years.
The Warriors (29-25) host Kerr's former team, the San Antonio Spurs, tomorrow night.
