The Golden State Warriors caught something of a break over the weekend when star point guard Stephen Curry signed his new extension, a two-year, $116 million contract with a player option in the second year. The deal backs up what Curry has been saying in recent weeks–that, even with the organization struggling with age and injuries, he has no desire to go and chase championships elsewhere. Curry wants to retire a Warrior.
More than that, though, his contract was about $20 million below the max he could have signed for. That will mean a $10 million savings on the payroll for the Warriors next summer, which is important, because it gives the team flexibility in free agency, able to carve out more than $50 million in room on a market that might have some opportunities to land top players available.
Stephen Curry Was ‘Generous’
In explaining how the deal came together, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. pointed out that the Warriors had a full max–$137 million over two years–on the table for Curry, and no one would have blamed him for taking it. But Dunleavy had a message of gratitude for Curry, calling him, “generous” in taking a haircut on his contract and creating flexibility.
Said Dunleavy: “Obviously there’s a path where we could have held out and not done anything, and you could make the argument you have a ton of room and flexibility moving forward, and you keep it open.
“But I think given Steph’s desire to be here, our desire to keep him here, I think we found a middle ground where he was incredibly generous in taking this deal, where he’s taking less money to help the team out because, as Steph goes, he’s as competitive as there is. He wants to win. He’s put us in a position where it gives us a little bit more flexibility to do that.”
Warriors Presented a ‘Plan’
One of the issues that Stephen Curry himself had with the Warriors and his extension was an idea of what the vision for the team might be. If Curry was going to give back money to the team, he wanted to know what the plan was to spend that money. Dunleavy did not get specific, but laid out a vision for Curry.
As he said: “I think we just presented him with a plan to remain tremendously competitive, and then we showed him scenarios. We showed him our books and what it looks like and this and that and the whole thing. I think Steph’s biggest thing is, allow me to understand. What are we thinking? How are we doing this?
“So we went through that with him, enabled him some time to give it thought and think about it, and then we came back with this concept that made a ton of sense. We’re thrilled to have him signed up and will be here many more years. I think it’s a great thing for Steph, our organization, the fans, and the whole Bay Area.”
Warriors GM Sends Strong Message to Stephen Curry Before Season