Steve Kerr is set to enter the final year of his contract with the Golden State Warriors when the 2025-26 season gets underway, and neither he nor the team are in any rush to discuss a new deal. Kerr said after the Warriors’ first day of training camp that he does not anticipate holding contract negotiations during the season and rather that he and the front office plan to meet next spring or summer to map out their future together.
This is the second year of a two-year, $35 million deal Kerr signed in February 2024. The extension made him the highest-paid coach in NBA history with his annual salary of $17.5 million.
“I’m very comfortable just going into the season with a year left,” Kerr said. “I’m so aligned with Mike and Joe that we talked about this. There’s no reason for discussion, concern. This is kind of a point in our relationship where it’s like, let’s just see how it is at the end of the year.”
Kerr arguably earned every penny of his last extension as a four-time NBA champion and one of the most highly regarded coaches in league history. His runs to six NBA Finals appearances and the record-breaking 73-win season in 2015-16 headline a remarkable career that dates back to 2014.
“I love my job,” Kerr said. “I love what I’m doing every day. I can’t wait to get to the building. Hopefully I’m here for another few years, but I think it makes sense for the organization and for me just to see where this thing is at the end of the year, where they are, where I am. Hopefully that means we run it back, we keep going with this group. That would be awesome. But I like the fact that we can just kind of do it how we want to do it.”
The Warriors had a mostly quiet offseason as they re-signed all of their free agents save for Kevon Looney and traded only draft picks. Their primary source of drama was a contract standoff with Jonathan Kuminga, who on Tuesday reportedly inked a two-year deal with the Warriors to end his restricted free agency.
Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors end contract standoff as forward signs two-year deal with Golden State, per report
Cameron Salerno
“I don’t anticipate any negotiation during the season,” Kerr said. “Who knows, maybe it all comes up at some point — they come to me, whatever. But I’m not the slightest bit concerned about it. I don’t think about it. I just think it makes perfect sense for all of us.
“I’ve said this before, I think, but however this ends, it’s going to be done in a really quality way. It’s going to happen the right way. If it’s meant to be for me to keep going, I’m going to keep going. And if it’s meant to be for the team to move on to somebody else, there will be nothing but gratitude and appreciation. This makes it easy for everybody.”
The 2027 offseason could be an inflection point for the franchise. Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green will all reach the ends of their contracts at the end of the 2026-26 campaign, forcing the Warriors to make tough decisions about whether to re-sign them in their late 30s.