Steve Kerr Endorses Erik Spoelstra as 'Perfect Choice' for USA Basketball HC Job

The Golden State Warriors' Steve Kerr endorsed the Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra as the "perfect" successor to his former role as head coach of the USA men's national team.

Spoelstra, who served as Kerr's lead assistant during the 2024 Paris Olympics, is expected to take over the program ahead of the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics (h/t ESPN's Shams Charania).

"Spo's an incredible, he's a phenomenal coach," Kerr said Saturday (h/t ClutchPoints' Kenzo Fukuda). "I think just watching him the last two summers, and getting to know him up close rather than just from afar, where I've admired him for so long, I got a first-hand glimpse at what a great coach he is.

"I think the assistant coaching is almost a prerequisite for coaching USA. It's really a different job. And now he has that experience, just like I did... Spo is the perfect choice. He's going to be great."

Spoelstra will mark the fourth different coach to lead the men's Olympic team in as many competitions. Mike Krzyzewski coached in 2016 and Gregg Popovich led the team in 2021 before Kerr took on the role last summer.

Kerr served as a top assistant on Popovich's staff for a World Cup in 2019 and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before he was named head coach of Team USA in 2021.

He led the team to a bronze medal game loss at the 2023 World Cup, then claimed the program's fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal last summer in Paris.

Kerr had said even before the 2024 Paris Games that he planned, like Popovich, to only coach a World Cup and Olympics before stepping down from the role.

"To me, it's a two-year; it's a cycle. Pop coached a World Cup and the Olympics, now it's my turn to pass the baton," Kerr told The Athletic's Joe Vardon in November 2023.

Spoelstra was hired by Team USA managing director Grant Hill, who Charania reported designed the "internal infrastructure" through which both Kerr and Spoelstra graduated from top assistant to head coach.

The rest of Spoelstra's Team USA staff has yet to be announced. Vardon reported that Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley and Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault are "names to watch for" as potential staffers.

For now Spoelstra, the longest-tenured head coach in the NBA, will be tasked with leading what could be a brand-new version of Team USA.

With veteran stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry potentially aging out of the competition ahead of the 2028 Olympics, Spoelstra could be leading a roster of first-time Olympians into the Los Angeles Games.