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It’s the day before Game 67 of a long, injury-riddled season, and Steve Kerr is somewhere he doesn’t really need to be.
After getting crushed by the Boston Celtics the previous night and taking an early morning flight to Detroit, the Golden State Warriors coach is sitting inside the Pistons’ practice facility downtown, watching a handful of his players go through workouts. Head coaches don’t always attend these sessions, but the 60-year-old coach is seated just off the floor, observing the work he still feels deeply connected to.
As the Warriors prepare for Wednesday’s Play-In Tournament against the LA Clippers and Kerr’s 12th season nears its end, a question hangs over his future: what comes next?
Kerr has won nine NBA championships as a player and coach. He’s played for some of the greatest coaches of all time (Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich) and coached some of the greatest players of all time (Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant). He won an Olympic gold medal as the coach of Team USA in the 2024 Paris Games and is widely considered one of the greatest leaders in sports. Yet, he is not signed beyond this season, an unusual bit of uncertainty for one of the architects of the Warriors’ dynasty.
As the rest of the basketball world wonders what comes next for Kerr and the Warriors, he remains unbothered. His passion is evident on that quiet afternoon in Detroit. At the end of a conversation with The Athletic, he’s asked what still motivates him to get out of bed after all that he’s already accomplished in the game.
Before he can answer, veteran guard Gary Payton II, one of Kerr’s favorites, walks over with a smile and gives his coach a tap on the knee. Kerr smiles back and offers a knowing nod.
“This,” Kerr said. “Coming in and seeing the guys and having a film session, trying to help them win. And having dinner with the coaches, and the camaraderie that exists when you are in the foxhole together. You’ve lost five in a row, and it sucks — it’s all relative. It sucks, but it’s so awesome to be with a group of great guys and try to win a basketball game. I love all of it. And you have to embrace the challenge and the fact that every year’s just gonna be different.”
This does not sound like someone ready to walk away from the only franchise he has ever coached, or from Curry, the player who has helped him define the culture Kerr has built since taking the Warriors job in 2014.
Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy have been consistent all season: they’ll address the future after it ends. There’s been no indication of a split. A team source reiterated recently that nothing has changed and that all sides will communicate openly when the season concludes. Kerr signed a two-year, $35 million extension in 2024 that ends after this season.
Prior to Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Clippers, Kerr was asked if how this season went would impact his decision about the future.
“It doesn’t factor in,” Kerr said. “That’s something I’ll address after the season ends. Hopefully that doesn’t happen for a while. But we’re still in it, we’re still going. My focus is all on the Clippers and I’m excited about trying to get in (the playoffs).”
Kerr’s preference is clear: He wants to stay. He has no desire to leave Curry or the Warriors. But he’s been around long enough to know that anything can happen after a season that didn’t live up to expectations.
The 2025-26 Warriors has been unlike any he’s coached. In a season that began with championship expectations, the Warriors have been besieged by injuries. Former All-Star Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in January and is likely out for a year. Moses Moody suffered a patellar tendon rupture in March and faces a similar timeline. Curry missed over two months because of a runner’s knee injury. Jonathan Kuminga’s situation lingered for months until he was finally traded just ahead of the February deadline. There was a very public spat with forward Draymond Green just before Christmas that Kerr later apologized for.
Through it all, Kerr has stayed committed to giving whoever’s on the floor everything he can. At times, the weight of expectations has shown. His blunt assessment of the Warriors as a “fading dynasty” drew fan backlash and, at times, his honest public assessments created internal frustration, league sources said.
Despite all the noise, Kerr has been a calming influence, guiding his team through a tumultuous season. No matter which players are on the floor, they play hard, a credit to the culture that Kerr and his coaching staff have instilled over time. It’s a culture that the basketball lifer is very proud of and something that has buoyed his time in the Bay. In his mind, creating any strong basketball culture starts with a key ingredient.
“The players,” Kerr said. “You have to have players who understand what it means to have a culture.”
No player embodies that more than Curry. The 38-year-old, now back after a two-month absence, is the man that everything in the organization revolves around.
“Inheriting Steph Curry, that’s the first step,” Kerr said with a chuckle. “You get to establish the culture, and you know that you’ve got a guy who’s just all-in. All-in. But the players have to know what you stand for. What are your values? What do you stand for as a group of people?”
In Kerr’s mind, that separation rests on two pillars: basketball and culture. On the court, it’s easy to see the Warriors believe in ball movement, pace and sharing the ball. They prioritize taking away easy points defensively, working hard to get back in transition and trying to set the tone against an opponent each night.
Off the court, it’s harder to define but just as important. Kerr wants his team to play with joy and show up for each other every day.
“We want these guys to really love the process,” Kerr said. “So, when you talk about these values you can write ’em on a wall, but if they don’t come alive every day then they’re not real.”
The approach — as Kerr has detailed in several conversations with The Athletic throughout the season — extends to how he manages his roster and relationships. He encourages players to be themselves and values open communication with the media. He also understands the spotlight that today’s player’s operate under, especially in a world of social media.
“I think we believe that our biggest selling point is our players,” Kerr said.
Kerr is direct with his players about the trade-offs that come with that visibility too. Players are paid at the highest level, but live under constant scrutiny. Kerr has seen firsthand how that pressure can affect individuals. He famously gave up social media years ago after a conversation with former No. 2 pick James Wiseman, who struggled both on the floor, and with the negative feedback he received online.
Internally, Kerr’s culture has also been tested. The most notable example was when Green punched former teammate Jordan Poole during a training camp practice at the start of the 2022-23 season – an incident that hovered over the team for the entirety of that season, testing the ideals that Kerr always wants his players to feel within the confines of the team.
“The Draymond/Jordan thing,” Kerr explained. “In the old days, I mean it happened to me. Michael Jordan punched me in practice. It’s the exact same episode. Nobody found out about it until years later.”
That balance extends beyond basketball. Kerr has supported his players to find a way to stay connected to family while navigating demanding schedules like Jimmy Butler asking to travel separately at times from the team to spend time with his kids.
“I think every coach has a different way of approaching things based on his own personality, his own experiences, but the biggest thing is are your players connected? Are they feeling cared for? Are they enjoying coming to work every day?” Kerr said. “Because if all those things happen, they’re going to play really hard and try to do the right thing to win.”
Which is why, even with his Warriors’ future unsettled, Kerr’s long-term role may come down to the very culture he helped establish, and whether the future still aligns with the team’s path ahead.
“If you’re lucky enough to have Steph and Dray and the culture that exists, and then, you keep bringing in guys to join, and they’re all in on the culture, it just seems to become a force of its own,” Kerr said. “And I think you can’t ever take it for granted. You just can’t.”
