Steve Kerr is one of the winningest figures in NBA history, and while he was never a star, his playing career was incredibly productive.
At this point, Steve Kerr might be best known for his tenure as head coach of the Golden State Warriors, with whom he has won four titles.
Much like Gregg Popovich credited Tim Duncan for his success, Kerr would do the exact same for Stephen Curry, although his coaching talents shouldn’t be underappreciated.
Before he took over as head coach, he worked for TNT and Yahoo! as a commentator and analyst, and was also an executive for the Phoenix Suns.
As a player, he won five rings with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs, and remains the most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history. On August 7, 2003, he announced his retirement after 15 seasons.
Kerr played in four seasons for the University of Arizona, twice making the All Pac-12 team. However, his only claim to fame was shooting, and the NCAA did not implement the 3-point line until his final season. That didn’t stop him from shooting 57.3% from deep, averaging 12.6 points per game in his final season with the Wildcats.
Kerr was picked 50th overall in the 1988 NBA Draft. In his rookie season, he played in only 26 games for the Suns and looked poised to have a short and forgettable career.
His shooting prowess, which translated from college, kept his career alive, and he would have stints with the Suns, Bulls, Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, and Portland Trail Blazers.
He never averaged more than 25 minutes a game or more than ten points, although his career mark of 45.4% from deep over his career remains an NBA record, and he seemed to have found himself in the right places at the right time, winning five titles next to Duncan and Michael Jordan.
Calling Kerr a “Finals riser” doesn’t make much sense, thanks to his counting stats all being significantly worse in the Finals than they were in the regular season. However, his undefeated 5-0 record as a player suggests that he was at his best when it counted.
| Span | PPG | APG | RPG | FG% | 3PT% |
| Regular Season | 6.0 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 47.9% | 45.4% |
| NBA Finals | 3.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 63.0% | 27.7% |
Of course, it’s easy to give credit to Jordan, Duncan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman for Kerr’s fistful of rings, although there is an argument to be made that all of those players wouldn’t be the legends that they were without Kerr.
In Game 6 of the 1997 Finals, Kerr hit a jump shot to put the Bulls up by two in the final seconds, winning the Finals. Had that game been lost, the Utah Jazz could have easily won Game 7, blemishing Jordan’s perfect record.
While the 1997 shot was by far Kerr’s most famous, it wasn’t his only clutch basket. In a deciding Game 6 in the 2003 Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Kerr made all four of his 3-pointers, three of which came in the fourth quarter, to propel the Spurs to a 90-78 win, and they would go on to win the final ring of his playing career that season.
When teams needed a bucket, Kerr was the best option in the league, and some of the best teams of all time knew that they could count on him.
