Steve Kerr, a three-time NBA championship coach with the Golden State Warriors, has been selected as the next coach for Team USA, sources told ESPN.
Kerr will replace Gregg Popovich and lead a reshaped USA coaching staff into the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Paris Olympics. Kerr’s coaching staff will include Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Gonzaga coach Mark Few, sources said.
A formal announcement is expected soon, sources said. Kerr declined to comment Friday.
Warriors star Stephen Curry said Friday that he was excited about Kerr leading Team USA.
“He talked about just he couldn’t imagine when he got into coaching in ’14 that we had the success we’ve had and he’d have the opportunity to leverage that into the next USA Men’s Basketball coach, which is pretty awesome,” Curry said. “I know it will probably flex a different muscle for him in terms of, it’s almost like borderline you’ve got to go recruit some guys, you’ve got to be the morale booster, you’ve got to put in a system. But it’s about the culture that you create around that team because you’re not together all the time. And how quickly can you guys jell. So that will be fun to watch.”
Curry, who has been noncommittal about potentially playing in the 2024 Games, demurred when asked what would happen if Kerr recruits him for Team USA.
“He knows my schedule,” Curry said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Kerr was an assistant on Popovich’s gold-medal-winning staff in Tokyo this summer, and Williams was a member of Mike Krzyzewski’s gold medal staff in 2016. Spoelstra is a two-time NBA championship coach with the Heat, and Few has transformed Gonzaga into one of college basketball’s elite programs.
The assembling of the coaching staff is the first major decision of Grant Hill’s tenure as managing director of USA Basketball. He replaced Jerry Colangelo, who retired after four gold-medal teams with Krzyzewski and Popovich as coaches.
ESPN’s Nick Friedell contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com