Steve Kerr has agreed to a two-year contract to stay with Golden State after coaching the Warriors for the past 12 seasons, according to reports from ESPN and The Athletic.
Kerr, who made $17.5 million this season, will remain the highest-paid coach in the NBA annually, per the reports. His contract expired this offseason.
Kerr, 60, had been meeting for two weeks with Warriors controlling owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy to determine the contract terms, per the reports. ESPN reported that money was secondary to making the best basketball decision in those conversations.
Since his first season at the helm in 2014-15, Kerr has guided the franchise to four NBA titles (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022). He has a 604-353 (.631) regular-season record and 104-48 playoff mark (.684).
However, the Warriors missed the playoffs this season when they lost a play-in game against the Phoenix Suns. It is the second time in three seasons that the team didn’t make the playoff field.
Also, the Warriors were 37-45 to finish below .500 for just the second time in Kerr’s tenure.
He understood that the 111-96 loss to the Suns on April 17 might have been his last game as a coach.
“I still love coaching, but I get it,” Kerr told reporters. “These jobs all have an expiration date. There is a run that happens, and when the run ends, sometimes it’s time for new blood and new ideas.”
Kerr had said if he coaches next season, it will be with superstar guard Stephen Curry and the Warriors.
“That’s part of the equation,” he said. “I don’t want to walk away from Steph. I’m definitely not going and coaching somewhere else next year in the NBA. I would never walk away from Steph. But all this stuff has to be aligned and right. Those are all discussions that will be had.”
Before Kerr coached the Warriors to their first NBA title in 40 years in 2015, he won five as a player with the Chicago Bulls (1996-98) and San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003).
