For the first time in his decorated career, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry came home from the Olympics with a gold medal. This was the former back-to-back MVP’s first stint in the Summer Games, and Curry made sure to make it count.
Now that he’s back on home soil, Curry has no other option but to face the harsh reality of the Warriors’ current situation in the NBA. The Dubs have pretty much fallen off a cliff since winning the title in 2022. Last season, Steph and Co. didn’t even manage to make the playoffs.
Unfortunately, things are not exactly looking up for Golden State this coming season. They lost Klay Thompson and Chris Paul in free agency, and they failed in their pursuit of Paul George. Lauri Markkanen still remains atop their list, but it does not appear like there’s been much progress there in terms of a potential blockbuster trade.
The good news for the Warriors is that at least on the Curry front, there’s not much to worry about — for now.
“Curry was in on the recruitment of George,” reported Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “Dunleavy keeps him in the loop on the options and ultimate personnel decisions. Curry hasn’t, team sources said, expressed any signs of panic or unrest. But there’s a choice of action or inaction in the coming months that’ll give a clearer hint about his long-term mindset.”
Steph is well aware of the notion that if the Warriors enter the new season with this current group, their chances of putting up a significant challenge for a title are not exactly promising. However, as the above report indicates, Curry isn’t too concerned at this point.
Nevertheless, there is a major complication here. At 36 years old, Curry is no spring chicken. He has a few prime years remaining and at this point, the Warriors cannot afford to waste any of them.
“Curry is eligible for a one-year, $62.6 million extension to his contract, which has two seasons and $115.3 million left,” Slater wrote. “He flew back from Paris a few days ago and plans to unplug from basketball-related business for a few weeks. So any contract conversation isn’t expected to take place in the near future, league sources said. It’ll be entirely on Curry’s preferred timeline. The deadline to extend is Oct. 21.”
The good news for the Dubs here is that they still have a couple of months to convince Curry to put pen to paper on an extension — one that will likely keep him in Golden State until he retires.
However, if for some reason the Warriors are unable to move the needle for Curry, then this might just force him to reconsider his options.
Steph has already declared he wants to retire a Warrior but at this point, nothing is set in stone.