Steve Kerr almost did what he said he never would: Walk away from Steph Curry. 

Almost.

Kerr, 60, inked a contract extension to continue as the Warriors’ head coach through the 2027-2028 season, according to league sources. The winningest coach in franchise history needed three weeks to mull his future, but ultimately agreed with management to a new deal. 

The news of Kerr’s return was first reported by ESPN.

Kerr, Curry, and Draymond Green — three pillars of the Warriors’ dynasty — remain the centerpieces of the franchise. 

Kerr’s illustrious coaching career includes four NBA championships and two more Finals trips. He led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and was the 2016 NBA Coach of the Year. In 12 seasons, Kerr has posted a 604-353 record. He has the 28th most wins of all time and the 17th highest win percentage.

His status has never more uncertain than it has over the previous few weeks. 

The lasting image from the Warriors’ final game of the season was Kerr, Curry, and Green huddling together as the coach said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I love you guys to death.” 

It looked like a poetic, heartfelt bookend to a legendary era. But ultimately, Kerr and the Warriors weren’t ready for that moment to be the end.

That’s great news for the Warriors’ locker room, the occupants of which unanimously desired for Kerr to be back. 

“We don’t want to play for anyone else,” Green told The Standard’s Tim Kawakami in April. “We built this thing together. Just as much impact as Steph Curry has had, as I’ve had, as Klay [Thompson] had, Steve’s had.” 

As Kerr’s decision played out, it became evident from the outside that the Warriors needed him more than he needed them. His Hall of Fame-caliber career is set in stone. Golden State, meanwhile, would’ve had to find someone else capable of delicately navigating the dramatic, high-stakes end to Curry’s career. Plucking an unproven assistant off a top team’s staff or dipping into the college ranks would have been a risky proposition. It’s possible Kerr’s departure would have inspired dramatic roster changes.

Kerr’s return represents stability and a level of familiarity critical for handling this unprecedented moment with dignity. 

This past season was trying for the Warriors, from the end of Jonathan Kuminga’s tumultuous tenure with the organization to multiple injuries to key players. Through it all, Kerr maintained that he was enjoying the job. He was coaching with his son for the first time, and he often extolled the virtues of finding beauty in the struggle. 

“I still love coaching, but I get it,” Kerr said after the Warriors’ elimination. “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. 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, in front of our fans in the Bay, to coach Steph Curry, to coach Dray. The whole group.” 

Kerr joined the Warriors ahead of the 2014-15 season, picking Golden State over an opportunity with his mentor Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks. Coaching Curry became a masterful decision, and Kerr repeatedly said in the years following that he almost certainly wouldn’t have lasted long in New York. 

The Warriors had made the playoffs just three times in the prior 20 seasons when Kerr took over. That included the previous two with Curry and Mark Jackson as the team began to ascend. But Kerr took Golden State to the next level. 

The Warriors won the title in Kerr’s first season, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games. Kerr helped modernize their offense, instituting the ball-and-player-movement system the team still employs today. The team went from last in passes made per game in Jackson’s final year to the top-10, and Curry won his first of two MVP awards.

After that, Kerr helped guide the team to their record-breaking 73 win season in 2016, steered the back-to-back champion super teams with Kevin Durant, oversaw a couple lean years and then the resurgent 2022 championship run. 

This season, Kerr openly described the Warriors as a “fading dynasty.” 

“Where we are as a team, as an organization, the most important thing for me is for guys to recognize that there’s beauty in the struggle,” Kerr said in December. “There’s beauty in what we’re trying to accomplish right now. We are no longer the ‘17 Warriors, dominating the league. We are a fading dynasty. We know that. Everyone knows that. So what is up to us? How do we carry ourselves night to night? How connected are we? And can we give ourselves another swing at the plate?” 

If the Warriors get another crack at a title in this era, it’ll be with Kerr on the sidelines.