This golden era of Golden State Warriors basketball is in its golden years. The franchise’s current championship window is quickly closing. Head coach Steve Kerr is well aware.
Kerr, a five-time champ in his playing days who has led the Warriors to four NBA titles since the start of the 2014-15 season, is in the final year of a two-year, $35 million extension he signed in February 2024.
He told reporters Tuesday he’s “very comfortable” entering the 2025-26 campaign on an expiring deal.
“I’m not the slightest bit concerned about it. I don’t think about it,” Kerr said, per ESPN. “I just think it makes perfect sense for all of us [to wait].”
[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]
Kerr said he’s in lockstep with owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy.
“However this ends it’s going to be done in a really quality way,” Kerr said, according to ESPN. “It’s going to happen the right way. If it’s meant for me to keep going, I’m going to keep going. If it’s meant to be for the team to move on to someone else, there will be nothing but gratitude and appreciation. This makes it easy for everybody. Let’s see where we are at the end of the year.”
The Warriors still have two of the three biggest stars from their dynasty, which began in the mid-2010s and leaked into the 2020s. Sharpshooting guard Klay Thompson agreed to a three-year, $50 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks ahead of last season, as part of a multi-team sign-and-trade. But transcendent point guard Stephen Curry and do-it-all forward Draymond Green remain with the organization and, since last season’s trade deadline, have teamed up with a championship-hungry Jimmy Butler.
Curry is 37. Butler is 36. Green is 35. They’re all on contracts that run through the 2026-27 season, giving the Warriors’ veteran threesome at least two years to make a title push.
Tuesday’s report of 22-year-old wing Jonathan Kuminga reaching a two-year $48.5 million deal to return to the Warriors is promising news for his older counterparts — either the Warriors finally get the best out of Kuminga, or they benefit from trading him once he’s eligible to be dealt in January.
While Kerr went into the 2023-24 season with an expiring deal as well, he eventually received his record-breaking midseason extension. This time around, those kinds of in-season negotiations aren’t expected.
“I’m so aligned with Mike and Joe. We talked about this — there’s no reason for discussion or concern,” Kerr said, per ESPN. “This is kind of a point in our relationship where let’s just see how it is at the end of the year.”
He added: “I love my job. I love what I’m doing every day. I can’t wait to get to the building. Hopefully I’m here for another few years. But I think it makes sense for the organization and for me to see where this thing is at the end of the year — where they are and where I am.
“Hopefully that means we run it back, we keep going with this group, that’d be awesome. But I like the fact we can do it how we want it.”
Read the full article here