The Golden State Warriors' season ended Friday, and with it came a question that has shadowed the franchise for months: is Steve Kerr done? The coach who led Golden State to four NBA championships in eight years declined to commit to his future after the final whistle, offering only that he would evaluate things in the offseason — a formulation that, in NBA terms, rarely resolves in the direction everyone is hoping.
Kerr, 60, has guided the Warriors through their dynastic run and the slow, grinding process of rebuilding afterward. The current roster is in transition. Stephen Curry remains elite but is no longer carrying a championship-contending team. The front office has difficult decisions ahead about its core, its draft strategy, and — now apparently — its bench.
The Warriors missed the play-in tournament entirely, finishing outside the top ten in the West in a conference that has grown formidably deep. The Oklahoma City Thunder, who finished as the No. 1 seed, will open the postseason against the Phoenix Suns, who clawed their way into the No. 8 seed on the tournament's final night.
The playoffs arrive with the Thunder as consensus favorites in the West. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as the conference's most complete player, and Oklahoma City's defensive infrastructure is the best in basketball. The Suns, facing that first-round matchup, will need a significant upset to avoid a quick exit.
What happens in San Francisco may matter more in the long run. A coaching change at Golden State would reshape the Western Conference's balance of power — and set off a coaching search that every team with a vacancy will be watching closely.