Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Golden State Warriors and head coach Steve Kerr have agreed on a two-year, $35 million contract extension. This extension will keep Kerr with the Warriors through the 2025-26 season:
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, an architect of four franchise championships, has agreed on a two-year, $35 million contract extension that’ll make him the highest-paid coach in NBA history, agents Rick Smith and Dan Eveloff of Priority Sports told ESPN on Friday. Kerr’s deal was set to expire at the end of the season, and his $17.5 million a season extension takes him through the 2025-26 season.
Warriors reporter Anthony Slater of The Athletic noted that Kerr’s extension coincides with Stephen Curry‘s contract. Curry’s contract will also run through the 2025-26 season.
Kerr has been the Warriors’ head coach since 2014. In his time, Golden State has made six NBA Finals appearances, winning four championships total. Furthermore, the team’s 73-9 record during the 2015-16 NBA season remains the best regular season record in league history.
Recently, Kerr expressed his desire to stay with the franchise he has called home for a decade:
“I want to be back,” Kerr tells me. “I’ve made that clear every time I’ve been asked about it. The only thing I won’t talk about is just any detail of contract stuff, but I’ve been very open. I want to come back. Joe [Lacob has] told me he wants me back, so I think I’ll be back.”
Despite a slow start to the season, the Warriors are 29-26 and are climbing their way up the Western Conference standings.
BREAKING: Golden State’s Steve Kerr has agreed on a two-year, $35 million contract extension, Rick Smith and Dan Eveloff of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. Kerr’s new deal makes him the highest paid coach in league history at $17.5M a year. pic.twitter.com/Hpd0xslyCU
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 24, 2024
NBA News: Warriors, Steve Kerr Agree on Two-Year Extension
What Does Steve Kerr’s Contract Extension Mean for the Warriors?
Recently, there were talks of potentially breaking up the team’s main core of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. However, Kerr’s extension likely means the team is planning on sticking together to continue what is left of their dynasty.
In 2022, Curry spoke about Kerr’s impact on the Warriors and how important he is to the team’s success:
“He just brought his humility, his consistency and his empathy for people,” Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area. “That’s a big part of his career and just understanding what it takes to be an NBA player, all the different things that have to go right within an organization to put yourselves in position to be successful. He’s been in pretty much every seat, player, coach, GM, analyst, everywhere in between. He has a lot of different vantage points on how to communicate and manage people. The care level is through the roof in terms of (players) 1-15, like we’re going to approach it the same way.”
It is clear Kerr has the respect of his players, and signing him to an extension is a no-brainer for the Warriors.
The Last Word on Kerr
The 2016 NBA Coach of the Year is seemingly not ready to move on from the Warriors. All season, Golden State has faced adversity and is facing its toughest challenges as a group yet. With Kerr committing to the team for multiple years, it will be interesting to see if the team can repeat their past successes for at least one more title in the next few seasons.
