The final horn on what would be a 111-96 loss to the Phoenix Suns had yet to sound. But the inevitability of defeat settled. The Golden State Warriors’ season ended with a thud. And the greatest coach in team history, the leader of a dynasty that changed basketball, loosened his grip.
In the closing seconds, Steve Kerr subbed Stephen Curry and Draymond Green out of the game, pulled them close, and told them he loved them. Many in the building sensed it felt like a goodbye.
The latest update suggests it may well have been.
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“It Felt Like That Was It”
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times posted on Monday that a source described as very close to Kerr said the 60-year-old has known for weeks that he is done coaching the Warriors . Multiple league sources confirm Kerr arrived at training camp mentally prepared to close out his tenure. He firmly rejected contract extension talks last fall, signaling his intentions early .
“I’m very comfortable just going into this season with a year left,” Kerr said last September. “Let’s just see how it is at the end of the year” .
Draymond Green, never one to sugarcoat, addressed the late-game moment on his podcast, admitting what it felt like from his perspective.
“I hope he’s our coach next season,” Green said. “You want my opinion? I think not. Just because it feels like that. It felt like that was it” .
“I’ve never been so uncertain since early in my career on what happens next,” Green added. “I am truly at a loss now because you just don’t know what direction will be what. Man, if it was, what a run it’s been. So lucky to have had for 12 years Steve as my coach” .
What the Latest Reports Reveal
Steph Curry and Steve Kerr
Kerr spoke on Friday of his intention to take a week or two before sitting down with owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. to discuss what comes next . His public comments left the door open. Meanwhile, the latest reporting suggests that door may have already been closed in his own mind.
According to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole, multiple league sources indicate Kerr is not expected to return barring a significant change of heart . Rather than money being the deciding factor, one source told Poole the situation runs deeper than that.
“They could offer Steve $25 million a year,” the source said, “and I doubt that alone would make a difference” .
Two sources indicate that any change of heart would require Kerr having renewed faith in his role as the franchise shifts toward the future . For now, the general belief among those close to the situation is that a decision will come in days rather than weeks.
What This Season Did to Kerr
Kerr arrived at training camp this past fall with a clear mindset. He wanted one more season to prove the Warriors could still compete at a high level.
What followed was one of the most difficult seasons of his tenure. Jimmy Butler missed 44 games, 38 after tearing his ACL in January. Curry missed 39 games with runner’s knee. Al Horford missed 37. Kerr used 43 different starting lineups and seemingly endless rotations trying to find something that worked. Nothing did consistently .
Kerr had hoped for a season that ended in smiles. That vision never materialized. The widespread belief is that he is uninterested in an encore to what he hoped would already be an encore.
“I still love coaching, but I get it,” Kerr said Friday. “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” .
What Kerr’s Departure Would Mean for the Warriors
Kerr became the Warriors’ head coach in 2014 and transformed the franchise almost immediately. In his first four seasons alone, Golden State won three championships and reached five consecutive Finals, before claiming a fourth title in 2022 against the Boston Celtics. Along the way, he finished with a 604-353 regular-season record .
The dynasty he built was defined by innovation. The Death Lineup. The movement offense. The culture of unselfishness that made Golden State must-watch basketball for nearly a decade. Whatever comes next for this franchise, it begins without the architect of all of it.
If Kerr exits, there would be a wide-ranging search for a new coach. League sources tell NBC Sports to expect the Warriors to make another run at Giannis Antetokounmpo if and when he hits the trade market, with the idea of pairing the Greek Freak with Curry to make another deep run and give them a player who helps them transition to the future .
The Uncertain Future of the Core
Green himself faces uncertainty over his own future. He holds a one-year, $27.7 million player option and is uncertain about his path forward. If Kerr does exit, it could signal the start of a much deeper, sweeping shift. That path has been described by several team sources as an “organizational reset” and could lead to further notable changes to the roster and coaching staff .
Curry, meanwhile, is entering the final season of his contract, though both sides have expressed mutual interest in an extension. The 38-year-old has one year and $62.3 million left on his deal .
“I want Coach to be happy,” Curry said. “I’m not going to try to tell anybody what to do. He knows how I feel about him” .
The Verdict: An Era Ending
Kerr wanted one more year. He got it. It did not go the way he hoped.
The official word on his future could come this week. Whatever that word is, the Warriors are entering an offseason unlike any they have faced in over a decade.
“I will be just nothing but grateful for the most amazing opportunity any person could have to coach this franchise in front of our fans in the Bay,” Kerr said. “And to coach Steph Curry and coach Dray and the whole group. So it may still go on. It may not. I don’t know at this point” .
Free to leave. Free to stay. He seems fine either way.
But for a franchise built on stability for the past 12 years, the uncertainty that now surrounds Kerr, Green, and Curry marks the end of an era. The Warriors’ dynasty, one of the greatest in NBA history, is facing its final reckoning.
And Dub Nation is bracing for it.