There was a good week or two earlier this year when it felt like Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was going to step away from the team and retire. His contract was up and he had an emotional moment with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green at the very end of the team’s Play-In loss to the Phoenix Suns where he told told them, “I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I love you guys to death. Thank you. I appreciate you."
He did not look like a guy who was going to sign a two-year contract extension to remain with Golden State less than a month later, but Wright Thompson’s great piece for ESPN detailed just how much thought and anguish went into Kerr’s decision on his future.
Just because he decided to return, that doesn’t mean his goodbye holds any less importance as it could turn out to be quite prescient depending on how this season goes for the Warriors.
The end of the Warriors dynasty is still very uncertain
Marcus Thompson recently talked about how Draymond Green, who signed a one-year deal to stay with the Warriors, is a very obvious trade candidate especially if the team underperforms. What if next season is a repeat of what happened last season and the Warriors are bad and banged up at the trade deadline? It would only make logical sense to trade Green if they could get something decent in return.
If that happens, that little embrace and warm moment may be the goodbye that fans remember if Curry ends up being the last man standing of the trio that helped usher in a dynasty for the Warriors.
That would obviously be a very sad way for things to go down. Green deserves a proper send off and no matter what happens, he'll get his jersey retirement and a round of applause whenever he steps away from the game. It’s very rare for a player to remain with one team his entire career, especially when they have clearly started to decline which is the case with Green.
If the Warriors did trade Green, Kerr and Curry may be the last two to turn off the lights on the dynasty if they decide to go out together. Or maybe Curry gets traded to another team or decides to keep on playing with the Warriors after Kerr retires.
There’s also the storybook ending where the Warriors retain Green and bring back Klay Thompson next season for one final nostalgia-filled year, allowing them to take a bow at the end and walk off the court arm-in-arm.
It’s just tough to predict how this all comes to an end. Obviously a lot depends on what happens on the court and what the various actors involved want to do, but there’s a chance that embrace on the court in Phoenix will be the only goodbye moment the dynasty core gets, at least while they are still actively playing. It's smart that Kerr did it because none of us know what's going to happen next.
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