Family was right in steering Steve Kerr into staying with Warriors

"It all worked out," Kerr said.

Yes it did. In a way that was obvious to almost everyone. Except, for quite a while, to Kerr himself.

Exactly one month after the Warriors' season ended, Kerr was reintroduced as (still) the winningest head coach in Warriors history. In the intervening weeks, Margot Kerr had the most impactful statement when she told her husband, "You know, you might coach again someday. But you'll never coach the Warriors again."

"That was really meaningful to me, because I love this team, I love our players and that struck me," Kerr said. "I couldn't imagine walking away from the Warriors."

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Yet, he did imagine it, for much of the past, frustrating season as he worked without a future contract. He and Margot talked regularly about his stepping away. When the regular season was completed, the day before the play-in game in Los Angeles, he told Wright Thompson, the brilliant ESPN writer whose opus on Kerr dropped a day before Friday's news conference, that he was 95% sure he was finished. General manager Mike Dunleavy went to bed plenty of nights feeling certain that Kerr would not be returning.

Kerr was worried about overstaying his welcome. In his iconic career, he has seen everything that the NBA can offer, including the too-late goodbye. He saw Michael Jordan retire and unretire and retire again. His mentor Gregg Popovich finally retired, but only after suffering both a stroke and a gentle push out the door. Kerr did not want to miss the clues.

But in being so concerned about spotting signs that it was time to leave, he almost missed the obvious, what was right in front of him. That he loves coaching the Warriors and that the Warriors need him to guide them into this next era.

Everyone else could see it. His family could all see it, including Margot and his daughter, Maddy, who admonished her father, "Dad, don't focus on the two or three things you don't like about your job. Focus on the hundred things you do like. Most of us don't love everything about our jobs."

"It hurts when your kids tell you the truth and you realize they're smarter than you," Kerr said. "My family knows me better than anybody. I'm happiest when I'm on the court with my players, when I'm collaborating with Mike and the organization. I love this. Even through the struggles this year, I love the struggle. I love the challenge.

"It's an incredibly exciting and enlivening feeling to have that, and I wasn't ready to walk away."

Warriors guard Stephen Curry also knows Kerr pretty well. He knew Kerr was in the right place and that he wanted him to remain coach.

"One of the strong points of our organization is that our best player, one of the greatest players in the history of the game, is not telling Mike or Joe (Lacob, the team's principal owner) what to do," Kerr said. "It usually doesn't work out well when a player tries to dictate what an organization does. Steph has always recognized the sanctity of the wall that should exist.

"But I knew he wanted me to coach. I knew I wanted to coach him."

Curry didn't need to say anything. Lacob and Dunleavy knew how he felt about Kerr. They also certainly knew, when they thought about Draymond Green returning, that no other coach could handle Green.

"I think I have a better chance of coaching this team than anybody else because of that relationship (with Curry), my relationship with Draymond, my intimate knowledge of our team and our organization," Kerr said.

Still, Kerr - who can be highly self-critical - knows all sports jobs come with an expiration date. He didn't want to stay past his, becoming stale and no longer palatable.

But then, the day after he told Thompson he was 95% sure he was leaving, the Clippers play-in game happened.

The dramatic 126-121 road victory, when the Warriors flashed their old magic, when Curry and Green conjured memories of the dynasty, when the entire team rose up and made a dramatic stand, seemed to change everything. Including Kerr's mind.

"It helped," he said. "I couldn't tell you if that hadn't happened. I couldn't predict. I think I would still be here.

"But you live for those types of moments. It's hard to describe how awesome and exhilarating it is to coach and to win a game and see everything come together.

"It's one of the reasons we all have trouble walking away. And I don't want to be the guy who can't walk away. So a lot of that went through my mind."

Two days later, the Warriors' season ended in Phoenix. After more than a week of decompressing, Kerr and Lacob and Dunleavy began a series of meetings. Kerr told them all the reasons why he shouldn't be the coach. They told him all the reasons he should. It was a collaborative conversation that is rare in the world of pro sports, and made Kerr realize again how fortunate he has been, with this team, in this place.

They talked about what was missing, what was needed. They talked about their collective, burning desire "to get this thing right," as Dunleavy said at what Kerr termed "an inflection point for the franchise."

Getting it right requires a major change in philosophy and point of view. Under Kerr, the Warriors have always - until Jimmy Butler's injury in January - aimed at chasing a championship. While Lacob still wants to be in the playoffs every year, the partners know they need to recalibrate that mindset, find ways to be competitive and lay the groundwork for the future.

"It's going to end for them in the next few years," Dunleavey said, referencing the team's iconic veterans. "It's not going to end for us. The Warriors are going to go on forever. And we've got to keep pushing ahead."

Kerr finds it invigorating to launch this new era of the Warriors.

"I want to get better," he said. "I want to lay a stronger foundation for next season that will carry forward for years to come, beyond when I'm here.

"I'm still pretty young. I've got a lot of energy. I love what I do. It made sense to keep going."

It made sense to everyone. The signs were all there.

Kerr finally recognized them. Some day he will be the guy who can walk away.

But not yet.

May 15, 2026

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Ann Killion

Sports Columnist

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 7:18 PM.