“Голдэн Стэйт Уорриорс” багийн ахлах дасгалжуулагч Стив Керр өөрийн ирээдүйг багийн супер од Стефен Карритай салшгүй холбоотой гэдгийг дахин нотоллоо. Тэрбээр багтай хамт өнгөрүүлсэн 12 жилийн хугацаагаа дүгнэхдээ, Стэфений гайхалтай тоглолт, зан чанар, тогтвортой байдал байгаагүй бол энэ бүх амжилтад хүрэх боломжгүй байсныг онцолсон юм. Хэдийгээр Керр ирэх улирлын гэрээгээ албан ёсоор сунгаагүй байгаа ч түүний гаргах шийдвэр нь зөвхөн санхүүгийн бус, харин Карритай үргэлжлүүлэн хамтран ажиллах хүсэл эрмэлзэл дээр суурилж байна. Керр багийн эзэн Жо Лакоб болон ерөнхий менежер Майк Данливи нартай уулзаж, 13 дахь улирлаа үргэлжлүүлэх эсэхээ эцэслэн шийдэхээр хүлээгдэж байгаа аж.
Гэсэн хэдий ч багийн доторх уур амьсгал тийм ч амар биш байгааг зарим эх сурвалжууд тэмдэглэжээ. Керрийн нийгэм, улс төрийн сэдвээр илэн далангүй үзэл бодлоо илэрхийлдэг байдал болон багийн шинэчлэлийн асуудлууд нь заримдаа дотоод зөрчил үүсгэх шалтгаан болдог байна. Үүнээс үүдэн багийн дотоод хүрээнийхний дунд Керрийг эргэн ирнэ гэх итгэл найдвар өмнөхөөсөө бага зэрэг буурсан ч албан ёсны шийдвэр хараахан гараагүй байна. Тэрбээр “Карриг орхиж явах бодолгүй ч багийн бүтэц, зорилго бүх зүйл хоорондоо зохицож байх ёстой” хэмээн байр сууриа илэрхийлжээ.
Карри бол дасгалжуулагч хүний хувьд ажиллахад хамгийн таатай, “аз жаргалтай” тоглогч гэдгийг Керр үргэлж бахархан ярьдаг. Тэдний хамтын ажиллагаа NBA-гийн дөрвөн удаагийн аварга цол болон 2024 оны Парисын Олимпын алтан медалиар баталгаажсан билээ. Стефен Карри өөрийн зүгээс дасгалжуулагчийнхаа шийдвэрийг бүрэн хүндэтгэхээ мэдэгдэж, “Керр хаана ч байсан, юу ч хийсэн аз жаргалтай, ажлаа дуртай хийж байх нь хамгийн чухал” гэдгийг онцолсон байна. “Уорриорс”-ын нэгэн эрин үеийг бүтээсэн энэ хоёр эрхмийн холбоо тасрах уу, эсвэл дахин нэг “сүүлчийн бүжиг” хийх үү гэдэг нь сагсан бөмбөгийн ертөнцийн анхаарлын төвд байна.
Эх сурвалж: NBA Insider Reports and Warriors Post-Season Media Day 2026.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
It’s Oct. 11 inside the Galen Center on the campus of USC, on another sun-kissed Southern California day. The Golden State Warriors are wrapping up a preseason practice ahead of a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. Inside the practice gym, members of USC’s men’s basketball team linger for a glimpse of Stephen Curry. Off to the side, Jimmy Butler, who did not practice, is trying to recruit some teammates to go to lunch.
Even here, in a college facility, with future Hall of Famers Butler and Draymond Green nearby, all eyes, as usual, are focused on Curry.
As the rest of his teammates make their way down the stairs and toward the buses, Curry takes a right to the USC weight room for more work. His security man, Yusef Wright, dutifully stands guard outside, making sure one of the most famous sports figures in the world has no distractions. Everything about the Warriors still flows through Curry after all these years.
Steve Kerr knows that more than anyone.
Minutes before, the 60-year-old Golden State coach was asked how often he finds himself grateful for Curry. He smiled before answering, almost as if the question didn’t require much thought.
“Well, I either thank him or I tell people how thankful I am,” Kerr told The Athletic. “I just told (USC men’s basketball coach) Eric Musselman, ‘There’s no way I would have been here 12 years if Steph Curry wasn’t here. The organizational stability we have really comes from him. There’s very few people who can have that kind of an impact on an organization, a league, a city, a region. He does all that and more, so yeah, I’m thankful for him every day.”
Kerr laughed as he finished his answer because there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t have that thought.
But beneath that gratitude sits a question Kerr has never had to confront until now: Could he actually walk away from Curry?
Six months later, that question is no longer hypothetical. It was a question Kerr was asked directly after the Warriors’ season-ending loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
“I don’t want to walk away from Steph,” Kerr said after the game. “I’m definitely not going and coaching somewhere else next year in the NBA. I would never walk away from Steph, but all the stuff has to be aligned and right.”
That tension — his certainty about Curry and uncertainty about what’s next — is where Kerr sits.
Kerr invited these questions at the beginning of the season when he didn’t sign a contract extension. Those questions only grew even louder Friday night, when he huddled with Curry and Green late in the game and told them, in part, how much he loved them and thanked them for everything.
As Kerr weighs whether to return for a 13th season, a decision that will be answered at some point in the coming days after a conversation with Warriors owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy, one of the biggest questions he will have to answer is whether he can actually walk away from Curry — and the stability the superstar brings with him every day.
League and team sources said throughout the season that Kerr’s desire to speak candidly on social and political issues has at times caused internal frustration. Veteran journalist Marc Spears said during a radio interview this week that one reason Kerr may be hesitant to return is that he has felt “stifled” at times.
Whether that becomes a deciding factor remains unclear. What is clear is that optimism inside the organization about Kerr’s return has faded in recent weeks. Multiple teamsources have stressed that no decision has been made, and won’t be made until Kerr meets with Lacob and Dunleavy, but staffers have begun to brace themselves for the possibility of change.
ESPN reported Monday that if Kerr returns, the Warriors would want him to agree to a multi-year extension. One team source would neither confirm nor deny that detail, but it is clear that both sides are approaching a pivotal conversation. Speculation around the league about possible successors has already begun. Yet, there remains hope inside the organization that the partnership can continue into a 13th season.
That hope starts with Curry.
Kerr has said over the years that Curry is the most joyful player he’s ever coached. That word — joy —has been a cultural trademark of Kerr’s coaching tenure and everything that Kerr has tried to build in Golden State.
“I think our players would tell you there is a lot of joy in our building every day,” Kerr told The Athletic last month. “For a lot of different reasons. But those reasons have to be real and have to be apparent every single day. When the players come in and they feel every day what you stand for, then they’re gonna believe it. And you’re giving them the compassion that they deserve and the love that they need, then it can become real, but it’s a hell of a lot easier when you got Steph Curry in the building, too.”
Curry really is the messenger of Kerr’s coaching gospel. He’s a living, breathing embodiment of all the ideals Kerr believes in most. Their values go deeper than basketball, too.
“Steph and I basically share the same values in life,” Kerr said. “And so I feel like a lot of our culture has come from Steph and my shared life values. And it was pure luck.”
Did Kerr know it from the beginning of his tenure?
“I could see it from afar,” he said. “I just thought, well, Steph is Tim Duncan. He’s the real deal. Whoever coaches him is gonna be so lucky because he’ll be in collaboration with the coach and once I got here and I saw the joy that he took out of the game itself and life itself, (I thought)…
“Hell yeah! This is my guy. We’re the same guy.”
Kerr couldn’t help but laugh about the last part. There was one key difference between the two men in his mind.
“Only, one guy’s a little more talented than the other,” he said.
As Curry sat at the podium late Friday night in Phoenix, he was clearly a little thrown off by the number of questions about Kerr’s future that were directed his way. When asked repeatedly about Kerr’s coaching decision, he pushed back on the idea that their late-game embrace was some sort of farewell signal.
The questions persisted, though. So much so that Curry, who will make almost $63 million next season and said he would be open to discussing a contract extension this summer, interrupted another question about Kerr’s comment regarding his belief that coaches have expiration dates to ask one of his own.
“Was he in here like going crazy?” Curry said. “Y’all are giving me some lines. I’ve only had one conversation with him, so I didn’t get the (full extent). I’m learning on the fly.”
No person in the organization would be more directly impacted by Kerr’s departure than Curry. The pair have experienced the greatest highs the NBA can offer together. They’ve won four NBA championships and a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Team USA. They are each other’s biggest public supporters. Change is part of the NBA, but this pairing has withstood the highs and lows the league has to offer —until this moment.
Curry could have made a plea Friday night to publicly ask Kerr to stay. He didn’t. Instead, he took the moment to express what he wants Kerr to have the most as he makes his decision in the near future. Curry only wants Kerr to come back for his 13th season if he really wants to be back, and only one person knows the answer to that question.
“I want Coach to be happy,” Curry said. “I want him to be excited about the job. I want him to believe he’s the right guy for the job. I want him to have an opportunity to enjoy what he does. So whatever that means for him, everybody’s plan is their own, and I’m not gonna try to tell anybody what to do.
“He knows how I feel about him. That shouldn’t even need to be said. However it goes, you’re thankful for what we’ve been able to accomplish over this run. Thankful for the opportunity to hopefully do something again next year.”
Kerr knows he’ll never have a better player to coach in Curry. He knows he has played a massive role in defining Curry’s legacy, and Curry has played the same role in his. So, the real question isn’t whether Kerr can walk away from being coach of the Warriors, it’s whether he can walk away from this one constant that helped him build the Warriors into the Warriors.
Whether he could walk away from Curry.
