That was always the first and most basic element that could keep Kerr with the Warriors: He’s the perfect coach for Curry, and Curry still has great basketball left in him. Would Kerr want to be the one who messed that up?

In the end, no.

It might’ve felt freeing for Kerr to imagine life after all the pressure and the agonies of coaching the Warriors through another struggling season; but what could he possibly do next that involved anybody as special as Curry and anything as fulfilling as trying to pile up as many additional epic Curry moments as possible?

I thought Curry might make a passionate public appeal for Lacob to do anything possible to keep Kerr back on April 17. But with three weeks of additional perspective, I think Curry’s indirect but clear comments that day — “I just want Coach to be able to look at the situation as a whole and feel like he’s the right guy” — actually might’ve been even more convincing.

This wasn’t an Alpha Superstar pounding the table to get his way. This was one very important human speaking reasonably about another important human.

If everybody could just be reasonable, Curry was saying, they could keep this going. This Warriors journey can take irrational turns and it can feel insane at times, but most of the largest decisions are rational. Because Curry is rational. And if you’re lucky enough to be his coach, you know you’ll never be huddling up with anybody like him once it’s over.

Maybe it was all right there from Kerr’s words on April 17, lost a little because it was a quieter statement than the rest: “I would never walk away from Steph. But all this stuff has to be aligned and right.”

Lacob can be exacting and he hasn’t always been thrilled with the way Kerr has handled some of the Warriors’ younger players. But one thing some observers miss about this relationship: Lacob accepted Kerr’s conclusions and agreed to trade away James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga.

Once Curry’s time as the team’s centerpiece is over (hey, maybe in two years), I don’t think anybody expects Kerr to remain as the coach; that’s when the great schematic and personnel changes will come.

But as long as Curry is Curry, I’m pretty sure that Lacob is just fine with Kerr’s emphasis on ball movement and quick-thinking players maximizing what Curry does best.

And I’m very sure that Kerr is OK with some adjustments — as long as the players he’s adjusting for are worth it. He already adjusted things for Jimmy Butler’s arrival. He could do more adjusting if, say, the Warriors made a big move for another high-level player or land a dynamic player in the draft.

Would Lacob and Dunleavy have considered some broader changes this summer if Kerr had walked away? Yes, I think that would’ve been natural — Draymond Green, for one, might not have been a great fit for a transitional coaching period.

But the Warriors are always plotting out ways to acquire big-name players to give Curry another shot at a title and I believe that was emphasized to Kerr over these last few weeks.

He definitely doesn’t want to coach a bad and old Warriors team. He was shaken by the loss of Butler in January and by Curry’s lingering knee problems after that. That’s why he exalted after the Warriors’ inspirational victory over the Clippers in the first play-in game. He thought he might never experience that again with Curry and Draymond.

But Butler will be back at some point next season. The Warriors will get a good draft pick — maybe in the top four if they get lucky in the lottery on Sunday. And what if they can keep Kristaps Porzingis? And procure Kawhi? Or land LeBron? Or use the draft pick to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo?

Would Kerr want to watch somebody else coaching that Warriors lineup in next year’s playoffs? I don’t think so.

If the Warriors had told Kerr they needed a decision a day or two after that April 17 exit, I believe Kerr would’ve quit on the spot.

He was secure enough to be ready to do that at any point — he wanted to know if Lacob and Dunleavy really wanted him to remain with the team or were just going through the motions, and one way to test that is if they let him think about it for a while.

That’s why, I believe, there was almost no word, public or private, coming from Warriors management over the last few weeks. Nobody wanted to say anything that Kerr might take as a presumption or an offense.

Even some people outside the organization but familiar with the situation were worried about saying anything that could be taken incorrectly.

Finally, I got a few texts on Thursday and Friday from some peripheral sources: Kerr’s decided to come back.

But none of the principals were confirming that. Because, I assumed, there still was a percentage chance it could change. It still needed some time to breathe. Until Saturday.

He’s not going to run for political office. He doesn’t want to be a GM or basketball operations chief — he did that in Phoenix, didn’t think he was great at it, and doesn’t want any part of dealing with agents and deep scouting dives.

Kerr can walk into a top analyst’s job anytime he wants; ESPN was especially aggressive about the chase, probably offering up to $7 million per, and I heard was willing to meet almost any possible condition of his, including staying away from all hot-take panel shows.

But Kerr loves the competitive dopamine of coaching; the second he leaves the Warriors, whenever that is, he’ll be trying to figure out where he’s coaching next.

I never thought he sounded or seemed burned out, even during that April 17 extravaganza. He sounded tired of that losing situation, but not of the job itself. And certainly nobody gets weary of coaching Curry.

It’s possible that Kerr will run out of steam before two years are up. I do believe that once you start talking about quitting, sometimes it’s hard to wind it all back for the same job with the same energy levels all over again. If Curry misses a lot of time next season … well, we’ll see about everybody’s reaction.

But Kerr is not Bob Myers, whose tank was definitely empty in the weeks leading up to his departure after the 2022-23 season. And he’s not Klay Thompson, who just felt that it was time to be with another team.

Kerr does not belong with any other team and any other superstar than this team and this superstar. He will leave eventually, but that will be when this era is about to pass. And that’s not right now.

I believe the next major step will be Curry signing an extension. I think Draymond will opt out of his player option for next season and sign at a lower number for multiple seasons. They might not all leave together, but at least they know now that they won’t get broken up before they’re ready.

You can say that Curry, Kerr, Lacob, and the rest are ignoring the inevitable, the way Charles Barkley scolded Draymond on the “NBA Tonight” set a few days ago for daring to think the era is still going. But Draymond fired back and I’m surprised anybody else is surprised he did.

You don’t keep a great thing together only if it’s destined to win more championships. You keep it together because whatever comes next will be worse.

Kerr and the Warriors are keeping it together because the people and the moments are worth it. For at least two more seasons.