New Details Emerge About Steve Kerr's Future with Warriors

It's not clear if Steve Kerr will be the Golden State Warriors head coach next season, but the latest report clarifies what could make him walk away and what he'd be expected to do to convince team governor Joe Lacob he should be back.

What could make him walk away is simple: burnout.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Anthony Slater reported that some close to him believe he's burnt out, though they added that there are parts of the job that he's executing "with as much passion as ever."

It isn't shocking that a 60-year-old who has been coaching for the last 12 years could be ready for a break.

But interestingly, the ESPN report makes it sound like Kerr is not a foregone conclusion to be back even if he wants the job.

Sources told Shelburne and Slater that Lacob wants Kerr's impetus to return to be rooted in "executing the nitty-gritty details of the daily job" instead of just loyalty to Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

Those sources added that the front office wants Kerr to sign a multiyear deal to avoid next season feeling like the Last Dance documentary.

The front office will also need Kerr to be open to changes to his staff and strategy.

"If Kerr returns, they will discuss staffing and what management believes is a need for philosophy tweaks, team sources said, focusing on diversifying the offensive attack and winning the analytically friendly possession battle more often," Shelburne and Slater wrote. "There has been a feeling internally that they were too reliant this season on 3-point variance."

This passage does not sound like the front office will force Kerr to fire assistants like Terry Stotts, Ron Adams and Jerry Stackhouse, but it does sound like Lacob and Co. will want some changes to inject new ideas into the coaching staff.

Kerr's Timeline to Make a Decision

Kerr said after the Warriors' loss to the Suns in Friday's play-in game that he'd "take a week or two" before chatting with Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. to make a "collaborative" decision about his future.

Shelburne and Slater reported that timeline works for the Warriors front office, though there is urgency to get the head coach situation resolved so other offseason matters can get more focus.

Free-agency negotiations can begin on June 30, so the Warriors have a little over two months to get their ducks in a row.

They need to get a sense of Green's decline-and-extend contract demand to know how their cap sheet will look once he's locked in. They need to find out if Kristaps Porzingis wants to come back and for what price.

Once they know those two things, they can decide which player they should target with their mid-level exception, whether it's De'Anthony Melton or an external player.

And of course they need to decide if they are keeping their first-round pick, and if so, who they will take with it.

That doesn't even get into trade pursuits and Curry extension talks, which could be coming as well.

So it makes sense that the Warriors don't want this head coach decision to drag on for several weeks.

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