Taking over as head coach of the Golden State Warriors ahead of the 2014-15 season, Steve Kerr became a key figure in one of the most impressive stretches of dominance in NBA history.
So overwhelming was the Warriors' ascendance, in fact, that Kerr became the fastest head coach ever to reach 300 wins across all four major North American sports leagues, doing so in just 377 career games coached, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
But all good things must come to an end.
Kevin Durant departed for Brooklyn this past summer, effectively ending Golden State's status as an overwhelming title favorite following five consecutive runs to the NBA Finals.
During a recent appearance on Bill Simmons' new podcast, "Book of Basketball 2.0," Kerr offered his own insight into what sparked the superstar's eventual exit.
"The same reason we got Kevin in the first place was the reason we lost him," Kerr said. "He was restless. Maybe he wanted to play a little different style.
"His first year with us, he was a sponge and he would ask questions constantly … I think he embraced it, he enjoyed it. That team was unstoppable, between the ball movement and the off-ball movement ... With the isolation brilliance of Kevin, that team was unstoppable."
Durant's debut campaign in Golden State was an overwhelming success. The Warriors finished the regular season with a 67-15 record before going 16-1 in the postseason to win the championship as Durant earned Finals MVP honors. But soon after, Kerr sensed the forward's focus had begun to wane.
"The following year, in 17-18, we lost some of that and it started to drift, and I felt like Kevin started to drift," Kerr said.
"My feeling was, he started to get restless. Like, 'This is all there is. We won the title last year, we're rolling again this year, but whatever it is I'm searching for, I'm still not finding it.'
" ... We had a really good thing and then you could just feel it start to slip."
Despite Kerr's concerns, Durant wound up leading the Dubs to another ring that postseason, earning a second straight Finals MVP award in the process. There would not be a third.
Durant averaged 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists on 52.4% shooting during regular-season play with Golden State, adding 29.6 points per game across 48 playoff contests.