To date, there has been little said in terms of progress on a contract extension for Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, and there is good reason for that: There isn’t much to negotiate for the sides. Curry is eligible for a two-year, $137 million addition to his current contract, which runs up after this season, and if he told Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy that he wanted that deal tomorrow, Dunleavy would send it right over to be signed.
But, as has become increasingly clear, the Warriors have the opportunity to create cap space next summer, and how much they can create depends on how Curry decides to handle his contract extension. He could take the full $137 million and basically cut the Warriors’ projected $130 million-plus cap space in half. Or he could take a discount that would leave the Warriors excess money on the books.
Or, Curry could not sign at all, hit free agency next summer, let the Warriors spend more than $100 million of space to bring in players, and then re-sign in 2027.
Warriors Will have Media Day on September 28
Now, there is no deadline for Curry to make any of these decisions, but there is a date looming for the Warriors that could push him to pick a direction sooner rather than later: September 28.
That’s media day for the Warriors, before they head off to Hawaii for training camp. On the “Warriors Plus/Minus” podcast with veteran Warriors reporters Marcus Thompson and Tim Kawakami, that date was set as the next signpost on the path to a deal for Curry. Not that he is seeking a deadline, but that he knows it’s when the prospect of his contract will start to seep into the rest of his team.
Stephen Curry Not Concerned About Extension
That does not necessarily mean that Curry and the Warriors will have the contract filed on media day. And maybe they won’t at all. But Kawakami indicated that the most likely path is Curry taking a slightly less-than-max contract, before the season begins.
Said Kawakami: “Let’s just say that first day, him (coming in) that first day, just to say, ‘Hey everybody, I haven’t signed yet but calm down. Like, it’s not problem.’ I could see him doing that, like he did on TV interviews, NBC Sports Bay Area and one other. He was kind of like, hey, nothing urgent here, it’s OK. I could see him saying, let’s roll into the first day of camp … I could see it maybe playing out that way.”
Curry would not want the issue to affect the team, though. “I could see him maybe he wouldn’t want a full-scale, red-alert that his teammates have to deal with,” Kawakami added. “He is not going to go into media day going, ‘Oh, I’ve got some issues. I don’t know about this!’ That’s not happening.”
Warriors Will Have Cap Space Even With Stephen Curry Extension
Through it all, it is important to remember that the Warriors–no matter Curry’s decision–will be able to create a big heap of cap space either way.
“I think it is real,” Kawakami said. “Just, no matter what, they are going to be able to get a max slot. Now, is it max slot-plus, we’re talking here? Steph’s not taking $20 million less. … It’s hard, because they can’t know until they get to the summer. And at that point—even then, it is not going to be that big of a deal because they’ve got so much expiring money that I don’t think it is going to be an issue.”
Warriors, Stephen Curry Eye Looming Date for Contract Extension