“I don’t know what’s going to happen next but I love you guys to death, and I thank you. I appreciate you.”
That was a mic’s up Warriors coach Steve Kerr, talking to Stephen Curry and Draymond Green just before the end of the Warriors’ season, at the hands of the Phoenix Suns in the play-in. With the end of the season, Kerr’s contract to coach the Warriors has come to an end. The sides did not agree to an extension before the season, and while there is no animosity, there also is no certainty about what is next.
Kerr was asked about his future postgame, and he said he wanted to step back for a while, first.
“The plan is to take a little time, I don’t know, take a week or two, and eventually sit down and talk with Joe [Lacob, the co-owner] and Mike [Dunleavy, head of basketball operations]. We’ve always had a great partnership and collaboration, and just see where they are, and I’ll tell them where I am, and we’ll talk about what’s next for the Warriors, what the plan is this offseason, and we will come to a collaborative decision on what’s next.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I still love coaching, but I get it. These jobs all have an expiration date. There’s a run that happens, and when the run ends, sometimes it’s time for new blood and new ideas and all that. And if that’s the case, then I will be just nothing but grateful for the most amazing opportunity any person could have to coach this franchise front of our fans in the bay, and to coach Steph Curry and coach Dray and the whole group.
“So it might still go on. It may not, I don’t know, at this point, but we all need to step away a little bit, and then reconvene.”
Kerr was clear about one thing: He’s not jumping to another team.
“I’m definitely not going and coaching somewhere else next year in the NBA,” Kerr said.
He also said, “I don’t want to walk away from Steph.” There has been some speculation around the league that he and the Warriors would part ways — or he would be bumped up to a front office role and not be on the bench — but nobody really knows.
And while Friday night kind of felt like the end of an era for Kerr and these Warriors, things may feel different in a week or two when Kerr sits down with Lacbob and Dunleavy. For now, he just wants a little time away.
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