For a moment earlier this year, it looked like Steve Kerr might really be done with the Warriors.
His contract was expiring, and after Golden State’s Play-In loss to the Phoenix Suns, he shared an emotional scene with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Kerr told them, “I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I love you guys to death.
Thank you. I appreciate you."
At the time, he didn’t look like a coach about to sign a two-year extension and stay in Golden State less than a month later. Wright Thompson’s ESPN story dug into just how much weighing and pain went into Kerr’s decision about whether to keep going.
Kerr came back, but that doesn’t make the moment any less important. If anything, it may wind up feeling even bigger depending on how this season plays out.
The future of the Warriors’ core still feels wide open, and not in a comforting way. Marcus Thompson recently pointed out that Draymond Green, who signed a one-year deal to remain with the team, is an obvious trade candidate if Golden State stumbles. If next season looks anything like last season - injuries, poor play, and the team sitting in a rough spot near the trade deadline - moving Green would make sense if the Warriors could get real value back.
If that happens, the embrace in Phoenix could be the goodbye fans remember most. Curry might end up as the final member of the dynasty trio still standing with Golden State.
That would be a brutal way for it to unfold. Green has earned a proper sendoff, and whenever his career ends, he should get the jersey retirement and the applause that come with it. It’s rare for a player to stay with one team his whole career, especially once decline starts to show, and that’s the situation here with Green.
There are still other paths, of course. If Green were traded, Kerr and Curry might be the last two left to shut the dynasty down, whether they do it together or not. Curry could also end up elsewhere, or simply keep playing in Golden State after Kerr steps away.
And then there’s the cleaner, almost movie-script version: Green stays, Klay Thompson returns for one last nostalgia-heavy season, and the whole group gets to ride off together at the end.
But that’s the problem with trying to map out an ending like this. So much depends on what happens on the floor and what each person involved wants next.
For now, there’s at least a real chance that Kerr’s moment with Curry and Green in Phoenix is the only farewell this core gets while they’re still active. Kerr was smart to say it then, because none of us knows what comes next.
In Other News...
Warriors May Be Adding Another Player To Fight For A Roster Spot
Stephen Curry taking in a Golden State Valkyries game alongside Dalen Terry was a small detail, but around the Warriors it read like more than a casual appearance. Terry, who was waived by the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this offseason, appears likely to be the next body brought into Golden States preseason mix as the team keeps shaping its training camp group.
Nothing is official yet, and the Warriors still have not announced Terrys addition. Even so, the move would fit the usual late-summer template for a team sorting through fringe roster options, with Terry expected to compete for a spot rather than arrive with any assurances. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Dynasty Slide Keeps Coming Back To One Costly Wiseman Bet
The Warriors post-title drift keeps circling back to the same decision, and it starts with the night they used the No. 2 overall pick on James Wiseman in 2020. Golden State was coming off another championship-caliber run and betting on a teenager with only a sliver of college experience, hoping his size and upside could eventually fit alongside Stephen Currys timeline. Instead, the pick became a long-running test of patience as Wisemans rookie season was interrupted by injury and uneven play, then the organization held onto him even as trade possibilities came and went.
By the time the Warriors lifted the trophy in 2022, Wiseman was not part of the rotation, and the broader question around the pick had only grown sharper. His second season never became the clean reset the team needed, leaving Golden State to wonder what it had actually bought with such a high selection and whether the franchise spent too long waiting for the promise to catch up to the reality. [Read more 🡒]