Steve Kerr negotiated with Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks for quite a while before he ultimately decided to sign with the Golden State Warriors. According to Jackson, the two actually got beyond the point of negotiations and all the way to a verbal agreement.
A previous report from Marc Berman of the New York Post indicated that Kerr ultimately chose the Warriors after receiving a lowball offer from the Knicks. Jackson offered a different story when speaking to reporters on Friday.
“Unfortunately for him, he committed to me the day before the job opened with Golden State,” Jackson said, per Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. “So I had to kind of release him to actually go to this job and say you have to do what’s right for yourself. I understood entirely the process he was going through to have that job open up. That was something he kind of thought would be a good fit for him. So that’s good, we’re happy for him.”
It seems like Kerr wanted to be closer to his family all along, so I’m more inclined to believe what Jackson said rather than Kerr being insulted by a lowball offer. That said, I wouldn’t doubt that the Warriors and others did warn Kerr about working for someone like James Dolan.
Jackson also admitted that the idea of him coaching the team next season during a “transitional” period has been discussed, but he is not open to it. He confirmed that Derek Fisher is on his list of “very good candidates” for the job.
