yahoo - 5/2/2026 12:57:33 AM - GMT (+2 )
Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. met with Steve Kerr about the status of his job earlier this week.
Kerr's coaching contract is expiring and there hasn't been any indication whether he would want to return, or whether the Warriors want him back at the helm. According to ESPN, the three had a two-hour meeting Monday that was described as "productive."
Following their meeting, the consensus is that the parties are at a standstill. Although discussions are expected to continue into the upcoming week, there is seemingly no urgency to come to a decision. As one source told ESPN, "It's April. We don't need to rush."
According to NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole, the drawn out process isn't a matter of a contract negotiation over dollars, but instead about "professional and personal principles."
“From what I understand, (Kerr) in those meetings didn’t sound like someone who didn’t plan on coaching next season,” one league source told NBC Sports Bay Area.
Another league source told NBC Sports Bay Area: "I think it’s more like 50-50 that he comes back. When the season ended, I would have said it was at least 60-40 that he’d leave.”
There are reportedly contingencies from both sides. Kerr wants to ensure the roster is competitive. The 12th-year coach who has won four championships appears to not be interested in rebuilding or development.
"I still love coaching, but I get it. 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," Kerr said following the Warriors' play-in loss to the Suns.
Kerr has loved his time coaching in the Bay Area, especially coaching Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. That could be enough to keep him around. But also, it could be a gripe for the front office.
According to NBC Sports Bay Area, the front office would like to see Kerr welcome younger players into his coaching schemes and demand more accountability from older players, including Curry and Green.
The other elephant in the room is Kerr's outspokenness on sociopolitical issues. Andscape's Marc J. Spears suggests that he could leave for "fatigue" but also due to the possibility he's "being stifled a little bit."
"Maybe fatigue. There's a weight that comes with that job. This is a franchise that is expected to have greatness, whether it has it on the roster or not. It's a brand now. You got Steph, so if you trot Steph out there, you have Draymond out there, people expect something great. There's a weight that comes with that," Spears said during an April 21 appearance on 95.7 The Game's "Willard & Dibs" radio show.
He added: "I also think that Steve also truly respects the weight of the job that he has, the weight of the platform that he has. He speaks out on social justice issues, he speaks out on racism issues, he speaks out on gun violence and I've heard a little bit that maybe he's being stifled a little bit in that regard. I'd like to find out a little more than that, if that's true or not, dig deeper into that . . . I'm hearing that might be something in the background."
With all that being said, Spears said with all he's heard, "everything is up to Kerr."
.@MarcJSpears on why Steve Kerr could decide to leave:
— Chef (@CurryForGame) April 21, 2026
"Maybe fatigue. There's a weight that comes with that job. This is a franchise that is expected to have greatness, whether it has it on the roster or not. It's a brand now. You got Steph, so if you trot Steph out there, you… pic.twitter.com/R4NOfk8X8v
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