<\/p>\n
Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors before an NBA play-in tournament game at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 17, 2026 in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
Christian Petersen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
As Steve Kerr<\/a> and the Golden State Warriors<\/a> ponder whether the head coach will return after 12 years, the week of waiting is making it borderline impossible to tell what\u2019s real and what\u2019s fake.<\/p>\n The stakes for this week have been set for a while now<\/a>, with Kerr not pursuing any contract extension before the 2025-26 season ended. When the Warriors were about to lose to the Phoenix Suns in the play-in round last week, the coach pulled in longtime stars\u00a0Steph Curry and Draymond Green for a group hug, with his words to the duo picked up by a microphone and blasted out to everyone on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I love you guys to death. Thank you,” Kerr told Curry and Green.<\/p>\n “I don’t know what’s gonna happen next, but I love you guys to death.” \ud83d\udc9b<\/p>\n Steve Kerr’s message to Steph and Draymond at the end of the Suns game \ud83e\udd79 pic.twitter.com\/78UfbFHXCm<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Kerr\u2019s acknowledgement that he isn\u2019t sure about his return left fans and the media scrambling. ESPN reporter Anthony Slater said Kerr told him before the play-in round that he was \u201cgenuinely 50-50,\u201d something the outlet put in a lengthy offseason preview package published on Monday<\/a>. But even while saying he takes Kerr at his word, Slater contradicted that specific line.<\/p>\n \u201c50-50 is never truly 50-50, there\u2019s always a lean one way or the other. But that encapsulates his mindset,\u201d Slater said on the \u201cWarriors Stock Report\u201d podcast that he co-hosts with fellow\u00a0ESPN reporter Tim Bontemps. As Slater explained it, Kerr intentionally left all of the major conversations he knew he had to have about his future \u2014 with owner Joe Lacob, GM Mike Dunleavy, Curry and others \u2014 until after the season.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Still, many Warriors reporters have taken how\u00a0Kerr spoke after Friday\u2019s loss<\/a>\u00a0as a sign that Kerr might be done himself. Bontemps said as much on\u00a0his podcast. The Athletic\u2019s Nick Friedell said it “sounds like Steve’s going to be somewhere else that’s not with the Warriors next year” in\u00a0an interview on 95.7 The Game<\/a> on Wednesday. The same was true for\u00a0Tom Tolbert, Kerr\u2019s former college teammate and longtime friend who spent decades working for KNBR-AM\/FM and now runs an independent podcast.\u00a0On\u00a0an episode released Tuesday<\/a>, Tolbert said he doesn\u2019t know what Kerr was going to do and said he won\u2019t bother his friend, but acknowledged both the wild celebration of the win over the Clippers and the finality of the moment with Green and Curry left him leaning one way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looked like the guy who, if not ready to go, certainly contemplating what life would be like [without coaching],\u201d Tolbert said.\u00a0<\/p>\n NBC Sports Bay Area columnist Monte Poole went further than anyone, publishing a story<\/a> on Tuesday citing multiple anonymous sources who said Kerr will likely not return to the sidelines for Golden State.\u00a0Poole then joined 95.7 The Game for an interview<\/a> later that afternoon and added to his report.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of things to rectify, and for Steve to decide to come back, because all I\u2019m hearing is that he\u2019s leaning towards leaving,\u201d Poole said<\/a>. \u201cThis goes back to even last summer, I started hearing that for people inside the organization and outside the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n San Francisco Standard columnist Tim Kawakami also said the team and Kerr\u00a0might not have \u201cenough common ground\u201d to bring the coach back.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the case, then it would make sense for Golden State to start checking out possible coaching candidates. Kawakami had several names in his column, including Florida men\u2019s basketball head coach Todd Golden, who used to coach at the University of San Francisco and won a national title in the 2024-25 season. Yahoo! Sports reported on Tuesday<\/a> that the Lacob family was close to Golden and \u201clong admired his coaching drive,\u201d sending speculation into overdrive.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But\u00a0that speculation has been contradicted by Slater, who told his podcast listeners not to believe any reports about Warriors and possible coaching targets just yet.<\/p>\n \u201cManagement is not there. They\u2019re not discussing candidates internally,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to tell this to the public. They are still on, \u2018Steve Kerr is still the coach\u2019 in their mind and they\u2019re figuring out his future before they turn to other candidates. There\u2019s not a stealth coaching search going on right now. Steve Kerr has not decided one way or the other. Obviously, if it goes that way, there are candidates that I do believe they will go try to track down, but they are not there right now.\u201d<\/p>\n But no one seems to know for certain. And on Wednesday, though, Poole said\u00a0in a Bluesky post<\/a> that said, \u201cAs of noon Wednesday, there remains a modicum of optimism that Steve Kerr will re-sign as coach of the Golden State Warriors, according to four team\/league sources. All concede there are sizable hurdles to clear before Kerr considers returning, but he has not yet ruled it out.\u201d<\/p>\n As of noon Wednesday, there remains a modicum of optimism that Steve Kerr will re-sign as coach of the Golden State Warriors, according to four team\/league sources.<\/p>\n All concede there are sizable hurdles to clear before Kerr considers returning, but he has not yet ruled it out.<\/p>\n \u2014 Monte Poole (@montepoole.bsky.social<\/a>) April 22, 2026 at 1:02 PM<\/a><\/p>\n As for the timing of a decision? Kerr himself said last Friday that he would need \u201ca week or two\u201d before sitting down.\u00a0Poole reported a decision was expected in \u201cdays, not weeks\u201d on Tuesday. And Kawakami took to social media<\/a> to extend the timeline for a little while longer.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cSounds like everybody involved expects the Steve Kerr\/Warriors situation to remain unresolved for at least for a couple more days. And this might go into next week. Maybe longer,\u201d Kawakami wrote. \u201cOnly takes 1 conversation to speed up everything, of course. But so far … nothing imminent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sounds like everybody involved expects the Steve Kerr\/Warriors situation to remain unresolved for at least for a couple more days. And this might go into next week. Maybe longer.<\/p>\n Only takes 1 conversation to speed up everything, of course. But so far … nothing imminent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n