The Golden State Warriors are set for training camp to open in less than a week, with media day taking place on Monday, September 28 and the team heading to Hawaii for camp shortly thereafter. While there is not much business left for the team to get done between now and then, the one big looming issue is the status of Stephen Curry’s contract.
Curry is eligible for an extension, worth up to $137 million for two years, and has been able to sign a new deal since August 29. He has no plans to hit free agency and leave the Warriors, but he is weighing different options–taking the full extension, taking a discount extension to offer the Warriors added cap space next summer, or holding off on an extension altogether until next summer, and giving the Warriors as much as $130 million in space on the books.
And though the actual talks have been silent, Curry this week dropped a major hint on his intentions.
Stephen Curry in No Hurry to Sign Warriors Deal
The feeling has been that Curry would want to have made the contract decision ahead of media day to prevent the topic from being harped on as the season gets underway. But as we reported this morning, there was nothing indicating that Curry was making a decision on the extension soon. As one NBA source told Heavy Sports: “Silence on that whole situation so far.”
And it turns out that Curry is not viewing the media day circus as a deadline of any sort for him to make a contract decision. So, yes, that silence has been pervasive.
‘No Drama’ for Warriors
On Wednesday afternoon, Warriors beat writer Anthony Slater of ESPN published a post that included updates from Curry himself.
Curry told Slater: “I don’t want there to be no drama. No talking points. This team should be competitive and go win.”
That won’t be easy in the early going, with both Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody–two of five starters–out with knee troubles. The team has made clear the goal is to stay competitive until the calendar turns and both Butler and Moody can get back into the flow of the team. Then, the Warriors hope, there will be strong stretch-run push.
Stephen Curry Aiming to Give Team ‘Flexibility’
But more important for the Warriors beyond this year is what Curry said about weighing his options–indicating he is considering taking a discount or not even signing an extension at all. The belief is that he wants to know what the Warriors will do if and when they get the cap space he could help create.
The Warriors could sign free agents, they could bring back some number of their own players, and/or use their cap space to facilitate trades for players teams can no longer afford. Curry indicated he wants to help the team get in position to do those things.
Said Curry: “We’re in a very interesting situation. All the different salary cap conditions of whether I sign for a max or less or whatever it is, I want to be on a competitive team. I want to have an opportunity to have some flexibility because we haven’t had that in years past, the recent past.
“… This team should have flexibility to make necessary moves if things happen. Those are always just the considerations. For me, information and patience is key. It’s just a very unique situation all the way around based on where we’ve been the last four years, where I’m at in my career, what our team looks like this year and the absolute desperation to win. Trying to balance all that.”
Warriors’ Stephen Curry Drops Major Hint on Contract Plans