Before he signed a two-year extension with the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr seriously considered a very different future. According to L’Equipe, the four-time NBA champion coach explored the possibility of one day coaching in Paris Basketball, a conversation that surfaced during the 2024 Olympics and continued in the weeks before his new deal was finalized.
The report said Paris Basketball president David Kahn first spoke with Kerr during the second week of the Paris Games, after Kerr and his wife spent a full day walking the city. Kahn said he told Kerr the job would be there for him “if he wanted to make the leap” after his NBA career ended.
Kerr ultimately stayed with the Warriors, but the idea was not dismissed. As L’Equipe noted, he later said, “it could always happen in the future.”
The possibility carried real weight because Kerr’s future had already become a major topic in Golden State. He had told ESPN that he was 95 percent certain the 2025-26 season would be his last with the Warriors, a reflection of the toll the job had taken after more than a decade in charge.
That uncertainty came during a difficult season for Golden State. The Warriors finished 37-45, landed the No. 10 seed in the West and were eliminated after the play-in round, their fourth missed playoff appearance since 2020.
Kerr had also revealed that chronic back pain had worn him down for years, and that he had begun a therapy and journaling routine over the offseason to deal with both physical and emotional stress. Still, when the season ended, he told his staff, “I’m not leaving,” after the team’s play-in win over the Clippers.
His decision to remain with the Warriors keeps one of the NBA’s defining coaching eras alive for at least another season. Kerr entered that summer with five championships as a player and four more as a head coach, while Golden State’s core still centered on Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
The Paris discussion also hinted at how Kerr views the game beyond the NBA. A coach who has spent years around championship-level pressure was clearly open to the possibility of one day bringing that experience to Europe.
