The Golden State Warriors have come to terms with head coach Steve Kerr on a new two year $35M contract extension which will make him the the highest paid coach in NBA history.
Kerr, who’s helped guide the franchise to 4 NBA titles during his time with the team, will now be tied to the franchise through the 2025-26 season, which falls in line with franchise icon Stephen Curry’s current contract. The 58 year old’s previous deal was set to expire at the end of this season.
While San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich technically makes more annually than the $17.5M that Kerr will earn, “Pop” holds the dual title of coach and President, giving him a blended role with the club.
The veteran bench boss is a 5x NBA champion as a player, and has added another 4 rings to his collection since taking over coaching duties with Golden State. Kerr has become synonymous with the Warriors franchise, helping guide them to an NBA record 73 win season, and also being named the 2016 NBA coach of the year.
Curry recent told The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II “There’s a handful of player-coach and trio-coach stories in league history that are comparable to ours. And that’s not by accident. … He’s been such a consistent presence. Not just the X’s and O’s, but of managing the lows and the highs, mainly the highs, that we’ve been at. People think it’s easy. But with success comes expectation. The nuance of keeping things together and managing not just in here, but managing up as well, it’s hard. It just reminds you of the special personality and character you have to have to do this job.”
The former Arizona Wildcat standout was also named head coach of the United States basketball program, and will guide the US in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. Kerr previously earned an Olympic gold medal as an assistant coach with USA Basketball at the 2020 Tokyo games.
His career record with Golden State currently sits at 501-264. The Warriors are next in action Sunday at 7pm ET vs. the Denver Nuggets.
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