I don’t recall ever listening to or watching more than a minute or two of a sports podcast, but that changed last week when Steve Kerr appeared on the “Glue Guys” video podcast, featuring hosts Alex Smith, former NFL quarterback from Utah, and Shane Battier, former NBA standout from Duke. It was so good I watched the full 70 minutes.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr watches from the sideline during the first half of Game 1 of a first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, April 20.
Of course, Kerr is the drawing card. The former Arizona star, who has nine NBA championships and an Olympic gold medal to his resume, spoke frankly and openly about how “lucky” he was to have been traded to the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was out of basketball, 1993-94, playing pro baseball, of all things.
Said Kerr: “It was my fifth year in the NBA and I had a non-guaranteed contract of $150,000. It was probably going to be my last year in the league. But Michael’s absence opened a roster spot and I got it. It gave me a chance to let them know I was there. That opportunity was a godsend for me.”
Kerr went on to help the Bulls win NBA championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and added two more with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and 2003. He played until he was 37. The Bulls almost released him when he was 26. Of course, he then went on to coach the Golden State Warriors to NBA championships in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.
One surprising nugget in the Kerr interview: He said coaching Team USA to a semifinal victory over Serbia in the 2024 Paris Olympics, trailing by 17 points in the second half, was “the greatest game I’ve ever been involved in.”
My personal favorite Kerr game was on Jan. 20, 1984. Kerr, an unknown freshman, was playing against ASU for the first time. The Sun Devils had won 11 of 12 against the reeling UA basketball program. Tragically, Kerr’s father, Malcolm Kerr, president of American University in Beirut, Lebanon, was assassinated by terrorists three days before the game. Kerr, a sub, wept when the PA announcer at McKale Center asked for a moment of silence before the game.
Inserted into the game with 11 minutes remaining in the first period, Kerr caught a pass on the wing, in front of the UA bench, and swished a 20-footer the first time he touched the ball. The noise was deafening. Arizona won 71-49. It was the beginning of one of the most memorable basketball careers in American history.
