The United States men’s basketball team may have a new head coach on the sideline soon, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.

Stein reported Sunday that Steve Kerr “is not expected to continue” in the role. The Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and Los Angeles Clippers’ Ty Lue, both assistants on the current staff, are the early front-runners to succeed Kerr.

This would be an ideal time for Kerr to step down. The United States is fresh off winning a fifth straight Olympic gold medal, and the next FIBA Basketball World Cup isn’t until 2027. That’s a long time for the 58-year-old to sit around if he’s on the fence at all about staying on for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Prior to Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski taking over in 2008, the general trend was also for a coach to stay on for one Olympic cycle and then move aside for somebody else.

Kerr told The Athletic’s Joe Vardon last November that’s how he was approaching the situation.

“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,” he said. “I think that’s kind of how it should be. Frankly, it’s a huge commitment too. I guess I think it was different the last go-around with Coach K and Jerry (Colangelo), when they were really establishing this culture and this system where guys had to commit for a couple years. Made sense for Coach K to stay on. But I think where we are now, one cycle and you move on.”

Spoelstra or Lue is a natural candidate to take over. Beyond having worked under Kerr, they’re widely regarded as two of the best tacticians in the NBA.

The identity of the head coach will be less interesting than how USA Basketball approaches the World Cup and Olympics from a roster perspective.

LeBron James (39), Kevin Durant (35) and Stephen Curry (36) are probably off the table for 2028, and the availability of Joel Embiid (30) and Anthony Davis (31) can’t necessarily be assumed, either.

Managing director Grant Hill is likely to face the usual difficulty of getting star players on board for the World Cup as well. The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards didn’t waste any time in ruling himself out for the event, at least for now.

Whoever is leading Team USA after Kerr may have one squad for the World Cup and then an almost entirely new one for the Olympics. That presents obvious challenges in terms of in-game strategy and continuity.

In addition, as the United States coach you’re unlikely to get much credit for winning but catch all of the blame for losing because gold medals are the bar for success.

None of that appears to be dissuading Spoelstra or Lue from throwing his name into the hat.