ESPN’s Brian Windhorst: What Could Determine If Steve Kerr Returns to Warriors

Steve Kerr is sitting in San Francisco, talking about coaching the Warriors. He has not signed anything. The Warriors have not put anything in front of him to sign. And according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, the holdup is not the part of the story most people are focused on.

'It's not just an emotional decision,' Windhorst told Rich on the show. 'Emotions are a part of it.' What is also part of it, in his reporting, is money. Kerr was paid $17 million last year, a number set when the Warriors were competing for championships. Windhorst is not sure ownership wants to keep paying a $17 million coach for the team it currently has. 'Is money 25% of it? Does it 51%? Is it 5%? Money is a factor.'

The key data point, Windhorst said, is the absence of a contract. There is no document waiting for Kerr to sign. The two sides are still working through how the team is going to play, who is on staff, and what Kerr will be paid to do it. 'They have to have material discussions about how they're going to play, what his money is, all that stuff. So that's why this is taking, this is a bit of a process. But they're having the process.'

Kerr is not on a golf course right now, which Windhorst noted is its own signal. 'If Kerr just wanted to go play golf, then he would be playing golf. He's in San Francisco as far as I know, working, discussing this.'

Rich pushed on the part of the conversation Kerr is best known for off the court. He has been one of the more consistent voices in pro sports on gun violence and on issues management would presumably prefer their head coach not weigh into on a Tuesday before a game in Salt Lake City. Is that a sticking point?

Windhorst did not buy it as the centerpiece. 'They have supported Steve Kerr for a decade plus,' he said. He compared it to his own job. 'My boss gets mad at me about certain things. My boss is like, why did you say that? Why am I having to deal with that? But on balance, they want to keep me around for now.' Someday they won't, he said. That day is not today. And that, in his read, is not the conversation Kerr and the Warriors are stuck on.

The questions higher on the list, Windhorst said, are tactical and structural. Are you going to run the same offense? Are you willing to hire this person? Will you coach for X, not 17 million? Those, in his reporting, are what is keeping a deal in process instead of done. The politics, in his framing, are noise around the edges of a negotiation that turns on offense, staff, and salary.