Steve Kerr isn’t ready to call it a career, and he’s not pretending the question is simple.
As Golden State’s longtime coach heads into his 13th season, Kerr says he’s thinking about retirement the same way Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are navigating the closing stretch of their own careers: carefully, honestly, and without a hard date in mind. Per ESPN’s Wright Thompson, Kerr said the balance is tricky.
“I don’t want to go too late and I don’t want to go too early,” Kerr said.
That uncertainty became more real when he considered whether leaving after the 2025-26 season would have been the right move. At first, he wasn’t sure. Then he started talking it through and looking closely at what life after the Warriors would actually mean.
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know until I took those two, three weeks if it was too early.
And then after talking to my wife, talking to Mike and Joe and Kirk [Lacob] and really examining what it would look like going forward, I came to the conclusion that, no, it was too early,” Kerr explained. “I still have something to offer.
“And I think the team they have shown that they still want me here, and we still make a really good group. I’m talking about management, players, and coaches.
And I’m so excited about this team, this season, our training camp. So I know without a doubt, it’s too soon, but I don’t want to be too late.”
Kerr has two years left on his deal, and he said he can picture himself staying at least through the 2027-28 season. He also left open the possibility that his exit could line up with Curry and Green, the two longest-tenured players in Golden State’s core.
“I signed for two years and I can’t see myself walking away after this year, but it feels now like there’s some shape to this thing,” Kerr said. “There’s some clarity.
I could see this ending where Steph, Dray, we all leave around the same time. I could see that happening.”
Kerr’s next chapter begins Wednesday, when the Warriors open the season against the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Kerr also made clear that Butler remains a different kind of presence when he is around the group, which matters for a Warriors team trying to keep its ceiling intact while waiting on his return. The bigger question now is not just when Butler gets back on the floor, but how much his mentality and two-way edge can eventually raise the standard for a team that will be measured from the start by how it handles these early games without him. [Read more 🡒]
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Will Richard, meanwhile, is suddenly in the conversation again after being out of the mix recently. With so many pieces in flux, the Warriors may need to lean on depth they have not had to trust much lately, and that makes the pregame decisions even more important against a Lakers team that can punish any shortage of available defenders or ball handlers. [Read more 🡒]