The Golden State Warriors' offseason has been overcome with a variety of reports and rumors regarding Steve Kerr's role as coach of the Warriors.
After the Warriors' loss in the Play-In Tournament last Friday to the Phoenix Suns and their subsequent elimination from playoff contention, Kerr admitted that he doesn't know exactly what the future holds for him in relation to the Warriors, and it has since been a flurry of news about the 12-year legendary coach.
Potential Kerr Contract Would Be A Multi-Year Deal
Two sources of information in the past week have reported that if Kerr were to return to the Warriors, it would have to be on a multi-year deal, not a one-year contract.
On Monday, ESPN senior writers Ramona Shelburne and Anthony Slater dove into this idea, noting that it is a "desire from management for him to sign a multiyear deal, instead of setting up a last dance farewell tour that would feel more about emotion and nostalgia than wins."
They also talked about the ideology that owner Joe Lacob is approaching this situation with.
"More than anything, Lacob will want to hear Kerr express a hunger to continue executing the nitty-gritty details of the daily job, not a reluctant acceptance that he should continue coaching purely out of loyalty to Draymond Green and Steph Curry and the sentimentality of riding out this era."
On Thursday, NBA insider Jake Fischer confirmed this thinking.
"The one thing we know for sure at this juncture ... If Kerr does come back, it can't be on a single-season basis. The team's decision-makers have been adamant that Kerr would need to commit to some sort of multi-year contractual structure to return to prevent next season from becoming a Last Dance scenario awash in sentimentality."
Could This Change Kerr's Mind?
With this notion seemingly set in stone from the Warriors' front office, it creates an interesting dichotomy between the setup of the Warriors' player contracts and this hypothetical Kerr contract.
Currently, the only players with deals that extend beyond next season on the roster are Moses Moody and Gui Santos, who just signed extensions this past offseason and in the middle of the season, respectively.
It would make the most sense for Kerr to be on a one-year deal that goes hand-in-hand with Curry and Jimmy Butler's contracts and Green's player option. Thus, if the season doesn't go well and the Warriors or any of the individuals wish to move on, it's easy to wipe the slate clean.
In this scenario, it makes sense that the Warriors' front office don't want any celebrations or similar sentiments to overshadow a season, but in the event that players like Curry or Butler choose not to re-sign or extend their contracts and become free agents after next season, it'd leave Kerr in a awkward position for the remainder of his contract, and this could potentially play into his decision to come back or not.
It's a tricky situation in which both sides need to figure out what they want and what the alternatives may be.