Not one person within the Warriors organization wants Steve Kerr to walk away. That has been the consistent internal reality since the moment Golden State’s season ended in the play-in, even as the outside world spent weeks constructing a farewell narrative around the most successful coach in franchise history. The tide is turning. ESPN’s Marc Spears, speaking on the latest episode of Showtime Basketball, reported that the conversation around Steve Kerr’s future has shifted meaningfully in the direction of a return.
“Everything I’ve kind of been hearing of late has turned toward the expectation of him staying,” Spears said. He drew a pointed contrast with the coaches who have already moved on this offseason. “Like Doc Rivers said goodbye several weeks ago. Coach of the Bulls said goodbye a couple weeks ago, right? So if he wanted to leave, why wouldn’t he have just done that already?”
The logic is simple, and it is the kind of logic that lands differently when it comes from an insider who then disclosed his own employer’s involvement. “I know my main employer, as I’m hearing, has reached out to him, and obviously I would love to be a co-worker of Steve’s, but my expectation is I’d actually be surprised not to see Steve on the sideline next year,” Spears said. “But ultimately it’s not done yet. But the fact that you’re still having conversations tells me you’re trying to work something out.”
“Everything I’ve been hearing of late has turned toward the expectation of [Steve Kerr] staying…I’d actually be surprised not to see Steve not on the sideline next year.”
– @MarcJSpears on the latest with Steve Kerr and the Warriors (via @WillardAndDibs). pic.twitter.com/jqjiipZ7zk
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 7, 2026
Spears’ read aligns with what has been reported from inside Chase Center. The Warriors’ braintrust and Steve Kerr are scheduled to meet for a second time this offseason as early as Monday, with Golden State operating internally in recent days as though it is more likely than not that common ground can be found on a new deal that would keep him in place coaching Stephen Curry.
The Warriors want Kerr to sign a multiyear deal, specifically to ensure the 2026-27 season does not carry a Last Dance atmosphere from the opening tip. The framing matters: this is not an organization dangling a one-year lifeline. They want commitment, and that request itself signals confidence that Kerr is still the right man for this roster.
Draymond Green, who initially believed Kerr would depart after the play-in loss, has changed his position entirely, now saying that “Steve Kerr wants to coach, and he expects him to come back.” That shift from one of the three people most intimately connected to the decision carries weight.
Green’s own $27.6 million player option is directly tied to the coaching situation. Sources suggest that without Kerr, the chances of Green being traded increase significantly, and Al Horford’s decision on his $6 million player option would also be influenced by whether Kerr remains.
The domino effect of Kerr staying is not just about the sideline; it is about holding the entire roster structure together for one more run.
The Warriors Have Little Choice but to Go for It, and Kerr Knows It
The broader context behind the U-turn is a franchise that has run out of easy alternatives. Golden State is not positioned to start a rebuild for 2026-27. Jimmy Butler has virtually no trade value given his knee injury.
Draymond Green has virtually no trade value at 36 after a difficult season. And aside from their first-round draft pick, the Warriors do not have a true developmental project on the roster with significant upside.
The argument for hiring a young coach to shepherd a rebuild falls apart when there is nothing to rebuild around, and Curry and Butler are both under contract for exactly one more year. Kerr will be a better coach for this veteran roster than virtually anyone else available, and the window to compete is shorter than the rebuild timeline anyway.
The one certainty across the entire situation is that everyone in the organization wants Kerr back. The remaining variable has always been whether Kerr himself wants to return, and that answer is expected to arrive this week.
If Curry and Butler sign one-year extensions, the 2027-28 season becomes the natural endpoint of this veteran era, a cleaner sunset than the one the Warriors would have faced if this offseason ended in a messy coaching transition.
Spears’ report does not close the door on ESPN’s interest in Kerr as a broadcaster; it simply suggests that the conversations happening on the Warriors’ end are louder, more active, and pointing in a direction that would keep him on the sideline.
For a franchise that has spent eleven seasons building something with this coach at the center of it, that outcome is the one that makes the most sense, and for the first time in weeks, it is also the one that looks most likely.
