The new contract extension for Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will come in as a two-year, $116 million contract, which is about $20 million below the maximum number he could have taken from the Warriors. No doubt, the max was on the table for Curry, but the team had presented him with other options that would free up cap space in the summer of 2027, even as much as $130 million or so if Curry had decided to not sign an extension at all but wait until next July.
The $116 million–and the $20 million sacrificed–is a bit deceptive, though, because the contract has a player option in the second year which would allow Curry to get out of his deal and revert to a max contract in Year 2, presumably after the Warriors have added a new player in 2027.
Stephen Curry Gave the Warriors ‘A Break’
It was a sacrifice for Curry, with the hopes that the Warriors will be a better team for it. But on ESPN’s “The Hoops Collective,” with Brian Windhorst and Anthony Slater, it was pointed out that Curry could have left more, and that the $20 million number is overinflated. Curry was called, “generous” by GM Mike Dunleavy and Curry’s give-back was tabbed, “crazy” by Draymond Green, but both are probably taking it too far.
Windhorst noted, “Steph cave them a break, but Steph ain’t in the mood to leave a lot of money on the old table, which I 100% don’t blame him for.”
Warriors Gave List of Options
Slater noted that part of the Warriors’ approach to Curry’s contract was explaining what they could do with whatever flexibility he wanted to afford them. Obviously, the more cap space a team has, the more flexibility it has to add players. The Warriors went through that with Curry and his agent.
Said Slater: “What it really was, was one year, $55.7 million. Part of the benefit Steph got on it is taking the player option on the second year. You know, he can scrap that up and get to his max, if needed.
“Within all of that, of course, they’re not going to tell us the exact names they were discussing, but they were saying, here could be a trade target, here could be a free agent target next summer, here’s a way we could do this and that. And they went through all that and Steph, at the end of the day, who wanted security, he’s turning 39 this year, there’s his knee, all that, just said, ‘OK, I will give you $10 million back,’ is what he landed on. He could have done $65-ish million, instead he did $55.7 million.”
Stephen Curry Took Most of His Money
Slater downplayed the end savings for the Warriors. It will help, but it is not like they came out of the Stephen Curry agreement primed to add multiple star players. They could, maybe, get one.
More from Slater: “I don’t know what that tells you, if that tells you Steph thought $10 million could really help them here, or if that tells you, hey, Steph’s like, look, I really don’t think you guys can execute anything too crazy here, and I am going to take most of my money and kind of punch you back a little bit. …
“He didn’t give a lot back.”
Warriors’ Stephen Curry Contract ‘Give Back’ Gets Reality Check