Warriors add two of the hottest head coaching candidates as assistants on Steve Kerr's staff

After the Golden State Warriors lost Chris Paul and Klay Thompson, they made a big move to bring in new faces — two faces who won't be playing basketball but coaching on the sidelines instead.

The organization plans to hire Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse as assistant coaches for next season to go under head coach Steve Kerr. Golden State is adding two experienced former head coaches to the already experienced staff, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported.

According to Wojnarowski, Stotts will be Kerr's lead assistant coach. Prior to joining the Warriors, he was the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers from 2012 to 2021. He had a regular-season record of 402-318 while being just 22-40 in the playoffs. His most recent role was with the Milwaukee Bucks under the then-head coach Adrian Griffin. However, he departed from the Bucks in the preseason after an argument with Griffin, who was fired 43 games into the regular season.

Before heading over to Portland, Stotts had head coaching experience with the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks. He was also an assistant for the Dallas Mavericks during their 2011 championship season. But this also won't be his first time on the Warriors bench, as he was an assistant for Mike Montgomery during the Warriors' 2004-05 season.

Stotts's experience is hard to match, and he now takes his name off the list of potential head coaches for any organization still in the hunt. He's coached more than 1,003 NBA games and holds a 517-486 regular season record and a 23-44 record in the postseason. He will be taking over for former lead assistant Kenny Atkinson, whose role in the Warriors 2022 title led him to earn a five-year deal as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Stackhouse is a former two-time NBA All-Star who played 18 seasons in the NBA for teams like the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors.

After retiring as a player, he had a short stint in the broadcasting booth before entering coaching. He began the 2015-16 season as an assistant for the Raptors and then became the head coach of the Raptors' G League affiliate, Raptors 905. He coached the team from 2016-2018.

After spending time up north in Canada, he joined the Grizzlies as an assistant in 2018-19, leading up to his Vanderbilt job. In his most recent head coaching job with Vanderbilt, he led the team to a 70-92 record throughout 162 college games. Last season was the end of the road with a record of 9-23. While he has more experience on the college level, Stackhouse's knowledge of the game as a player brings a different level of expertise as well as working with young players.

The Warriors also added guard De'Anthony Melton and forward Kyle Anderson as they try to build a super team around Steph Curry and Draymond Green with a stacked coaching staff.