A big storyline for Golden State Warriors fans to follow the rest of this season has to do with head coach Steve Kerr. His contract is up after the season and there's been a lot of speculation about whether or not he will return to coach the franchise next season.
A lot of factors are going to go into that decision, but one Bay Area insider wrote that the biggest obstacle to Kerr's return has been removed thanks to last week's bombshell trade.
Steve Kerr may remain with Warriors after Jonathan Kuminga's exit
In Tim Kawakami's latest mailbag article with the San Francisco Standard, he was asked about the likelihood of Kerr's return next season and wrote the following as part of his answer:
"I’ll repeat that the single thing that could’ve dramatically increased the chances of a Kerr departure next summer would’ve been keeping Kuminga on this roster past last week. That didn’t happen."
Clearly, the relationship between Kerr and Jonathan Kuminga had reached a breaking point. Some blame Kerr for the deterioration of that relationship, but there is plenty of blame to go around for the entire organization.
Even if keeping Kuminga on the team made some sense from a basketball standpoint after Jimmy Butler's season-ending injury, he clearly wanted out and Kerr didn't want him around as a distraction anymore.
Had the Warriors kept Kuminga and Kerr was asked about him every single game for the rest of this season as the two continued to butt heads behind closed doors, he probably would have ended up calling it quits.
Now that the distraction is gone, the Warriors can reset and look to make a second half push with Kristaps Porzingis in the fold. Adding Porzingis does not guarantee that the Warriors will make the playoffs, but at least it shakes things up a little bit and provides some hope that the team can figure something out with its current group of players.
Perhaps if the Warriors play pretty well this season and make it into the Play-In, maybe win a game or two and secure themselves a first round date with the Oklahoma City Thunder or Denver Nuggets, that would be enough to get Kerr to come back.
That outcome wouldn't look all that bad given the team has lost one of its best players in Butler. Kerr could reasonably look at that result and say that the team could hold its own next season, and then get a boost whenever Butler returns.
Kerr has already said that the team is a fading dynasty, but maybe he can convince himself that the team has one more run left. Adding a certain Greek star may also influence his decision and that will be another huge topic of conversation in the offseason.
No matter what, Kuminga is gone and the lack of that nagging headache for Kerr to deal with could greatly improve his odds of returning to the Warriors next season.