Rumors

Rivers doubled down by saying Green is a future Hall-of-Famer, but not because of his offense. “You were the luckiest basketball player I think I’ve ever seen,” Rivers said. “You were drafted to a franchise with a Hall of Fame front office, Hall of Fame coach, the greatest shooter of all-time and perhaps a top-five player of all time … not to mention one of the most lethal scorers of all time and arguably a top-10 player of all time, Kevin Durant, the same guy you chased off because you talk too much. “There are clips of you getting a rebound and driving in a straight line and getting a wide-open layup because everyone’s fanning out to guard the actual talent on the team. Steve Kerr made your career. How dare you? Coming at me, ‘Oh, I wish I could give my son $200 million if I was a coach.’ Yeah, the NBA doesn’t give coaching jobs to guys who may or may not sucker punch one of the players and staff.”

Larry Brown Sports

In a previous episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” Green expressed how he feels he could have done more during his NBA career and that Kerr might have been a factor. “As much as he's done for me in basketball, a part of me thinks he's hindered me in my career and what I could have become,” Green stated. “But what he's also helped me become. Like you got to take the good with the bad, man. “You know, when I think of who I was offensively as a player and who I became, I think a part of that is due to him. I don't hold that against him. I'm forever grateful that he still put me in a position to be successful and that I could become Draymond Green despite my offensive role on our team.”

NBC Sports Bay Area

Per league sources, new Bucks coach Taylor Jenkins signed a long-term deal with a salary that is well north of $10 million annually. Jenkins isn’t the highest-paid coach in the league, as that honor goes to Golden State’s Steve Kerr at $17.5 million annually (for now, as he continues to contemplate whether to return). Miami’s Erik Spoelstra is second (approximately $15 million). And Jenkins, the former Memphis Grizzlies coach who was once a Bucks assistant in Antetokounmpo’s early days, is up there now.

New York Times

Internally, there's a belief Sheppard has the potential to develop into an all-time great, such as former Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, if given enough time and the right conditions. Externally, there is less of a consensus on Sheppard. "More like Steve Kerr," a rival scout quipped, when asked about the Nash projection, envisioning Sheppard as an undersized, reserve 2-guard instead of a pure point guard who could serve as an offensive engine.

ESPN

League sources tell The Stein Line that ESPN's top executives have been lobbying Steve Kerr aggressively to try to convince him to return to the world of NBA broadcasting, but the Warriors are expected to meet with Kerr as early as Monday to resume discussions about his status. I'm told Golden State has been operating internally in recent days as though it is more likely than not that a common ground can be found with the 60-year-old on a new deal that would keep him in place coaching Stephen Curry.

open.substack.com

Among the issues the front office would like to see from Kerr are a readiness to embrace greater flexibility with coaching schemes, particularly as they relate to the team’s younger players, while also demanding more accountability from all players, including Curry and Green. Whether Steve Kerr returns will not be decided by the size of the contract that might come his way. This is not, per sources, a play for more money. This is, rather, about professional and personal principles.

NBC Sports Bay Area

After Steve Kerr concluded his meetings with players and staff last week, many with knowledge of those conversations came away believing he was still interested in coaching the Warriors. Those meetings, per several league sources, included discussions not only about last season's Warriors but also about the team’s future. Kerr came across to some as if he was preparing to re-sign and be on the bench next season. Nothing in that regard has changed this week.

NBC Sports Bay Area

But some of those close to the Warriors who early last week were anticipating Kerr’s departure now indicate there is a reasonable possibility that he returns.  “From what I understand, (Kerr) in those meetings didn’t sound like someone who didn’t plan on coaching next season,” one league source said Tuesday. “I think it’s more like 50-50 that he comes back,” another league source said Wednesday afternoon. “When the season ended, I would have said it was at least 60-40 that he’d leave.”

NBC Sports Bay Area

Long-time Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr met with controlling owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy for two hours on Monday, league sources told ESPN, as the sides continue to figure out whether it is the best path forward for Kerr to continue as the coach. Both sides described the meeting as productive, but there remains no resolution nearly two weeks after the Warriors' season ended in Phoenix. Kerr, Lacob and Dunleavy plan to reconvene next week to continue discussions, league sources said. Kerr will take a previously planned golf trip to close out this week as those around him continue to describe Kerr as torn about his own side of the choice. "It's April," one source said. "We don't need to rush."

ESPN

That lottery pick is an important tool within the Warriors' plan to rearrange the roster this upcoming summer, which is part of the equation in Kerr's decision whether to return. At this stage of his life and career - 60 years old, having just wrapped his 12th season in the same role - there's an agreed belief that Kerr still makes sense as the head coach leading a firm playoff contender built around Steph Curry and Draymond Green, but not necessarily the fresh face of a reconstruction. "I still love coaching, but I get it," Kerr said the night the Warriors were eliminated. "These jobs all have an expiration date. There is a run that happens, and when the run ends, sometimes it's time for new blood and new ideas."

ESPN

Team sources remain adamant that this is purely a "basketball decision", based around Kerr's desire to keep coaching, management's desire for some offensive philosophy and staffing tweaks and whether there's a collective belief that the Warriors will be able to utilize transaction season to better beef up its roster to compete in a crowded conference.

ESPN

Phil Jackson: 15 years I’ve been asking the NBA rules committee to widen the court apron. Corner shot b-comes 23.9”

x.com

How do you compare Jordan, your teammate, to LeBron James, who entered the league the year you retired? Steve Kerr: LeBron’s brilliance doesn’t lie in the same skill set that Michael’s did. It lies in more of a holistic game where he dominates with his pace and his athleticism and his passing. I’ve always felt scoring is secondary for LeBron, but he’s the greatest scorer in the history of the N.B.A.! Almost incidentally. Steve Kerr: Yeah, incidentally. Some of that is longevity: he’s a machine. I mean, I think he’s literally the greatest athlete on the face of the planet and in the course of human history. Playing with Michael, I saw the killer instinct, the emotional dominance he had over not only the other team but the officials, the entire arena. I don’t see that with LeBron. So they’re different, as far as the emotional part of it. Everybody came into a series against Michael knowing they were going to lose. There’s never been anybody like that. Maybe Bill Russell. But I’ve never felt the same way on a basketball floor as I did with Michael.

The New Yorker

For another year, right? Steve Kerr: Yeah, another year each on their contracts. And I don’t want to abandon those guys. If Steph and Draymond were retiring this year, I think this would be an easy decision: we all go out together and the organization takes their new path. But it’s not that easy because I think Steph’s going to play another couple of years and I think we can still do some good things together. But these are all conversations that will happen in the next week or two and we’ll figure it out. And whatever happens, it’s going to end well. I know that, because it’s too important not to. ♦

The New Yorker