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Golden State Warriors and Team USA basketball fans received some big news on Friday. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr will become the next head coach of Team USA Basketball:
USA Basketball is finalizing a decision to name Steve Kerr as the next national coach with an assistant coaching staff that will include Monty Williams, Erik Spoelstra and Mark Few, sources tell ESPN. A formal announcement is expected in the near future.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 10, 2021
Steve Kerr will replace Gregg Popovich who coached the gold medal winning team during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics this past summer. Kerr was an assistant on that team and has been a part of Team USA’s coaching staff since 2018. Kerr will join an illustrious list of people to coach Team USA that includes Popovich, Mike Krzyzewski, and Chuck Daly amongst others.
Kerr’s staff will comprise of Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few. Each coach is well-respected in the NBA/College ranks and for good reason. International basketball relies on systems that emphasize ball movement, defense, and playing team basketball — three things that each coach, especially Kerr, excels at running with their own teams.
From a Warriors perspective, it will be interesting to see what this means for Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and other Warriors for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Curry will be 36 years old in 2024 without having participated in any of the Olympic Games. Green will be 34 with two gold medals to his name. Thompson will also be 34 with one gold medal. It could possibly be their last opportunity to play on an Olympic team together so having Kerr as the coach could give them an inside track to making that happen.
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