Which NBA team Steve Kerr nearly coached instead of Warriors, per Rick Carlisle originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
From the moment he took over as coach in 2014, the Warriors have found nothing but success with Steve Kerr at the helm.
The Warriors won the NBA Finals in three of his first four NBA seasons and made it to the Finals in each of his first five seasons. They instantly became one of the sport’s most important dynasties, but as revealed by Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, there was almost a world where Kerr wasn’t the Warriors’ coach.
When appearing on “The Draymond Green Show,” Carlisle shared that he advised Kerr to consider the Golden State job seriously rather than signing on with the New York Knicks.
“I said, ‘What’s going on with the Knicks? I keep hearing you’re going to take the job, but it hasn’t happened yet,'” Carlisle told Green of his conversation with Kerr. “He said, ‘Well, they don’t — they don’t want to do the fourth year.’ Now, this was when it was this was a different regime, and they were they were were quabbling over the fourth year.
“And I said, ‘Steve, do you have any idea how much money that the Madison Square Garden operation has with Cable Vision and all that?’ … He goes, ‘Well, there’s — I don’t know — some reasons.’ I said, ‘I’ve heard your name with Golden State a little bit. … That is a conference finals team, like right now. If you want to go to a team ready to win, that’s the place you should go if you can.'”
While Kerr might have just wanted a listening ear, Carlisle’s pep talk motivated him to head to Golden State, with the Pacers coach revealing that he took the Warriors job two days later.
As for the Knicks, they ended up going through head coaches seemingly every other year after hiring Derek Fisher that same cycle. They ended up going through three head coaches from 2014-19 before finally finding some stability with Tom Thibodeau.
We will never know if Kerr would have been the steady hand for the Knicks had they not balked on the fourth year, but Warriors fans certainly will be grateful for New York’s negotiating blunder.
