The Golden State Warriors are heading into a new season with plenty still unsettled around their roster. Golden State is banking on one more real push from Stephen Curry and Draymond Green while quietly building toward whatever comes after them. Training camp is close. Expectations, fair or not, are already forming.
For Steve Kerr, the road back to the sideline wasn’t as simple as fans probably assumed.
The 60-year-old coach revealed he had privately made up his mind to walk away from Golden State before the front office talked him out of it.
Kerr’s Private Decision
Kerr said the decision was firm with the finish line of last season in sight. “I had decided I was leaving,” Kerr said during an appearance on the Tom Tolbert Show. The travel grind of an NBA season factored heavily into that thinking. So did the math. Twelve years and four titles in Golden State felt, in the moment, like enough.
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#gswarriors #stevekerr #warriors #stephcurry #nbaHow the Warriors Talked Him Back
The finality of that decision didn’t survive the offseason. Once the emotion of a difficult year wore off, Kerr sat down with ownership. He met three separate times with owner Joe Lacob, executive vice president Kirk Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. Those meetings turned into a real audit of the roster and what Kerr could still change about how the team operates. The front office also pushed Kerr to recalibrate his expectations after a 2025-26 campaign disrupted by injuries. That combination was enough to flip the decision. Kerr signed on for two more years and now calls himself reenergized.
What It Means for the Warriors’ Season
The timing of the admission matters given where the Warriors actually stand. Golden State is straddling two eras at once, with Curry and Green both late in their careers and the front office still hunting for the next core piece. Kerr insists he still sees a real season in this group despite the outside skepticism. He was also clear that Golden State is the last stop on his coaching resume. He doesn’t expect to take another NBA job once his run there ends, though he plans to stay connected to the league in some form.
Final Word
Kerr walking back a decision nobody outside the building knew he’d made says something about where his head actually was last spring. The exhaustion was real. So was the exit plan.
But somewhere between that quiet decision and the season’s actual end, something pulled him back. Maybe it was the roster still worth fighting for. Maybe it was Golden State itself, a place that’s clearly never quite let go of him either.
It just never got the chance to become official.
Some goodbyes don’t take. This one didn’t.
Warriors’ Steve Kerr Makes Shocking Admission Before New Season