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The timeline is firming up and the options have become much clearer:
After a quiet week of contemplation, Steve Kerr and top Warriors executives are expected to meet at some point over the next several days — by the end of this coming week, at the latest — to decide whether he’ll return as the team’s coach.
Multiple sources have emphasized repeatedly over the last week, since the end of the Warriors’ season on April 17, that Kerr has made no final decision about his future and that Joe Lacob and Mike Dunleavy haven’t been pressing him for it.
Some of the same sources also say that there have been no contract talks, no demands, and no philosophical parameters outlined by either side.
Kerr wanted a handful of days to think about this, and he’s gotten it. He’ll get more if he wants them. But a source involved in the situation said this is probably headed toward a Kerr-Warriors meeting this week.
Lacob and Dunleavy publicly and privately have generally indicated that they want Kerr back as coach — with a new contract — but both sides are interested in a conversation about the entire situation.
As Stephen Curry put it after the Warriors’ elimination in Phoenix eight days ago: All of the major Warriors stakeholders want Kerr to want to be the coach. But as of yet, that’s unclear, including for Kerr, who sure sounded ready to leave this job in the aftermath of that game in Phoenix.
Since then, there have been no statements or public hints. There are definitely questions, though.
Will Lacob and Dunleavy ask Kerr to adjust his offensive system away from the quick-movement/pass-and-cut style that has worked so well during Curry’s prime but possibly stalled the development of players like Jonathan Kuminga? Will Kerr want any part of that discussion?
Will the Warriors’ executives suggest a multiyear deal to make sure they don’t go through this again next spring? Will Kerr be OK with that? Does Kerr just want a new challenge after 12 years?
Could he really leave Curry and miss future moments like the stirring victory in the first play-in game over the Clippers? Does he want to hang around for what could be even tougher seasons than the one that just expired?
All TBD. Likely decided this week.
Sources close to Kerr stress that his decision will be strictly about this job and this moment and is separate from any potential post-Warriors role.
As one source said, Kerr has always known he could be well-compensated doing something else. That isn’t what’s driving this decision, the source said.
But if he does leave the Warriors, TV industry sources recently have indicated that there is a great deal of interest in Kerr returning to a top analyst role.
Multiple sources said that ESPN, Amazon, and NBC have all informally checked in with Kerr’s camp to let him know that they’d love to talk to him if and when he leaves the Warriors. According to one industry source, ESPN has been particularly aggressive in these check-ins.
Kerr has not had any job conversations with anybody outside of the Warriors, several sources said.
But it was never a secret that Kerr would be a very attractive TV commodity whenever he departs the Warriors — either as a temporary way station as he decides what to do next or as a multiyear commitment.
Kerr had two lauded stints as an analyst for TNT’s NBA game broadcasts, most recently from 2010 until he was hired by the Warriors in May 2014. TNT lost NBA rights this season, though its popular “Inside the NBA” show starring Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, and Ernie Johnson has been licensed to ESPN.
A top TV job, should Kerr want one, will be waiting for him the second he exits the Warriors. But there’s still a live possibility that he remains with the Warriors.
Everything’s been in limbo for more than a week. But it’s likely about to get livelier — and much more definitive — very soon.
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