Following the Golden State Warriors’ 118-94 loss to the Sacramento Kings in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 Western Conference play-in game Tuesday, Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry discussed his future with longtime teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Speaking to reporters, Curry said, “I can never see myself not with those two guys,” in reference to Thompson and Green:
While Curry and Green remain under contract for multiple years, Thompson is set to hit free agency this offseason and could play elsewhere for the first time in his NBA career.
Curry, Thompson and Green have all been teammates since the 2012-13 season, which was when Green entered the league as a second-round pick.
From 2012 through 2023, the Warriors made nine playoff appearances in 11 seasons. They also made five consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2014 to 2019, and six Finals appearances in an eight-year stretch from 2014 to 2022, winning four of them.
The Warriors have been the closest thing to a dynasty since the Los Angeles Lakers three-peated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the three constants have been Curry, Thompson and Green.
Golden State is just two seasons removed from winning its most recent championship, but it fell in the second round of the playoffs last season and couldn’t make it through the play-in this season after going 46-36.
Curry, Thompson and Green are all 34 years of age or older, and they performed to varying degrees during the 2023-24 campaign.
At the age of 36, Curry continued to perform at an elite level, averaging 26.4 points, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 4.8 three-pointers made per game, and he was the biggest reason the Dubs even had a chance to make the playoffs.
Green has never been much of a scorer, but the 34-year-old veteran contributed in other ways and largely played well, averaging 8.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game, while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from beyond the arc.
However, Green was suspended twice for on-court incidents. The first suspension was for five games when he got into a tussle with Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, and the second was an indefinite suspension that lasted for 16 games after he struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face.
Thompson, 34, struggled through one of the most disappointing seasons of his career, averaging 17.9 points per game, which was his worst output since his second NBA season in 2012-13.
He also averaged 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 3.5 three-pointers made per game. Thompson’s field-goal percentage of .432 was the third-worst mark of his career, and his 38.7 percent three-point shooting percentage was his second-worst mark.
Per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, Thompson wants to return to Golden State rather than signing elsewhere in free agency, but “there wasn’t much reassurance that there would undoubtedly be a resolution” between Thompson and the Warriors during the season, which “rubbed Thompson the wrong way.”
The Warriors have some talented, young players in Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Trayce Jackson-Davis who could blossom with more playing time.
Letting Thompson walk would undoubtedly create more opportunities for those players, although it would potentially hurt the Warriors in the short term.
Golden State is in win-now mode with veterans like Curry, Green and Andrew Wiggins on the roster, and re-signing Thompson and banking on him returning to form would be a win-now move.
The Warriors have a delicate balance to strike between trying to contend while they still can and trying to build for the future, and it is possible that it could lead to them breaking up their Big Three this offseason.