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For a few seconds, Chase Center seemed to slip into a multiverse, with two Steve Kerrs in the building at once. One was where he belonged: near the Golden State Warriors’ bench. The other was walking along courtside with a half-finished beer in his hand, dressed in gray and looking so much like the “real” coach that the whole scene felt like a glitch in the arena’s reality.
The fan walked past the rows just behind the Warriors’ bench, sporting the same silver hair and signature haircut. He kept a serious expression as people turned to watch him go by. From behind, even his build and the way he walked made the illusion seem almost real.
Steve Kerr freezes as his look-alike walks courtside with a beer
Then Kerr spotted him. The coach stood up and looked over, holding his gaze for a moment, as if his brain needed time to catch up with what his eyes were seeing. It was a subtle reaction, but that pause made the moment special: Kerr wasn’t watching a replay or a video board. His double was right there, moving through the crowd with a beer.
The man behind Steve Kerr’s uncanny look-alike
The look-alike is Steve Gillis, a teacher and volleyball coach from Las Vegas. People have mistaken him for Kerr for years; he first went viral at a Warriors game in 2024. Gillis has said the resemblance is purely coincidental: even the gray hair and similar haircut weren’t a deliberate attempt to imitate the coach.
Gillis isn’t a stranger who happened to look like Kerr for one night. He’s the same fan who has fooled other spectators before and this time, the coach himself got to see the resemblance up close.
Steve Gillis was dressed casually in gray, carrying a beer and walking with the calm, serious expression fans associate with Kerr on the sideline. As he made his way to his seat, the scene inevitably brought to mind the famous Spider-Man meme in which two Spider-Men point at each other. All that was missing was for the two “Steves” to turn toward one another and point.
The encounter happened Friday during the Warriors’ final preseason game, a 128-118 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Chase Center. Golden State finished its exhibition schedule with a 4-2 record, but this uncanny look-alike moment may have been the most surreal scene of the night.
For a moment, it seemed as if the arena had opened a door to another universe, one where Steve Gillis had the seats behind the bench and the real Steve Kerr had to stop and wonder who was who.