UPDATE [5/10/2026, 5:48 p.m. ET]: ESPN content president Burke Magnus responded to Awful Announcing’s initial story categorically denying the report by Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard. “We have too much respect for Coach Kerr. We were not even going to engage until he made a decision on coaching,” Magnus said.
Our original story is included below.
Steve Kerr agreed to a two-year contract to return as Golden State Warriors head coach on Saturday, per ESPN’s Shams Charania, closing the door on what would have been one of the more significant media hires in recent NBA history.
The deal keeps Kerr as the highest-paid coach in the NBA, having previously earned approximately $17.5 million per year, a figure his new contract is expected to surpass. For context on what he walked away from, according to Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard, ESPN — which reportedly was “aggressively” pursuing Kerr — was willing to offer the Warriors head coach up to $7 million annually to come to the network and was willing to meet almost any condition he put forward, including a specific exemption from hot-take panel shows.
“Kerr can walk into a top analyst’s job anytime he wants,” Kawakami wrote. “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.”
That ESPN was willing to bend its own programming structure to land Kerr says something about how badly the network wanted him. As Brendon Kleen wrote for Awful Announcing last week, ESPN has used a fourth different broadcast team in as many years for the NBA Finals and has been searching for a signature pairing since laying off Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in 2023. NBC came in with Mike Tirico and Reggie Miller. Prime Video has Ian Eagle and Stan Van Gundy.
ESPN, the home of the Finals, still hasn’t found its answer. Kerr, who called NBA games for TNT from 2003-07 and again from 2011-15 before taking the Warriors job, would have been exactly that.
Instead, Kerr is staying in Golden State for at least two more seasons.
