Steve Kerr’s future looked shaky not long ago, but Warriors owner Joe Lacob is drawing a hard line around his coach.
Kerr, who has been as tied to Golden State’s rise as Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, recently signed a two-year extension after reportedly being close to retirement at the end of last season. Lacob made it clear in an interview with the San Francisco Standard that the organization had no interest in moving on from a coach of Kerr’s stature just for the sake of change.
“You just don’t let go of a Hall of Fame coach just to let go of a Hall of Fame coach - just to make change. Steve, I was very impressed in our discussions that he felt he could’ve done a better job last year.
We certainly can do a better job, too, of some of the things we do. But he wanted to evaluate it in great detail and really talk about the near-term and what he wanted to get out of it, what we wanted to get out of it,” he said.
Last season ended with Golden State falling out of the play-in after a loss to the Phoenix Suns, finishing 10th in the Western Conference. After that game, Kerr said he believed it was “time to move on,” adding that the call would have been much easier if Green and Curry were also planning to retire at the end of the campaign.
Lacob, though, expects a different version of Kerr when next season arrives.
“And I think they were just very productive discussions about how to go about this next year. I think you’re going to see a very energized and invigorated Steve Kerr this year,” he said.
The front office has also taken plenty of heat, especially online, for Golden State’s quiet offseason. General manager Mike Dunleavy recently signed an extension, and Lacob called him one of the “best GMs in the league.”
For now, the message from ownership is clear: the Warriors are keeping their core decision-makers in place, even as fans grow restless and Curry’s window keeps ticking.
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