For those wondering where Steph Curry will be playing basketball next season, it will be the Golden State Warriors; the same team he’s played the previous 15 seasons with.
Curry and the Warriors made that much clear when the two sides agreed on a one-year, $62 million extension on August 29.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first with reports.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has agreed on a one-year, $62.6 million extension that’ll keep him under contract through the 2026-2027 season, his agent Jeff Austin of Octagon tells ESPN.
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The deal silences any mounting skepticism that Curry would spend next season in Golden State. After winning gold in the Paris Olympics next to good friend LeBron James, fans had been manifesting a team-up between the two all-time greats.
Curry is coming off of his 15th NBA season, which have all been spent with Golden State. He averaged 26.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.5 rebounds in 74 regular-season appearances last year.
The one-year extension is the maximum the Warriors could have offered Curry, given the NBA’s over-38 rule. That prevents teams from housing players at age 38 or older on four-year (or longer) deals.
So, it will be three more guaranteed years for Curry and Golden State.
But whether or not he’ll play them all out in his only ever NBA home is to be determined. Next season will be only the second of Curry’s career without Klay Thompson, who left for the Dallas Mavericks in free agency.
For at least the upcoming year, he’s silenced any trade talk. But if the Warriors can’t field a competitive season with Curry at the tail-end of his prime, most would consider a trade request warranted for the future Hall of Famer.
Steph Curry: ‘The Expectation Hasn’t Changed’
Curry sat down for an exclusive interview with Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic after inking his latest contract with Golden State.
He told Thompson that with the extension now completed, focus can return to next season.
“You have an appreciation for the position and the opportunity and the support from people who’ve been with you on the journey,” Curry said. “I’ve always said I wanted to play for one team my whole career. So it’s good to get (the extension) question out of the way and give complete focus to basketball and to the season.”
Curry maintained that his expectation is still winning basketball, despite his commitment.
“It’s still about winning,” Curry told Thompson. “And taking the steps necessary to give ourselves a chance. The standard hasn’t changed. The expectation hasn’t changed.”
The Warriors finished last season 46-35 before losing a play-in matchup against the Sacramento Kings. Next season holds even greater implications, regardless of Curry’s commitment to the club.
It doesn’t have the feel of a championship-or-bust year. But a play-in tournament finish would reignite speculation surrounding Curry’s future.
Anthony Slater: Warriors ‘Believe They Improved This Summer’
Prior to Curry and Golden State’s extension, Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported on some confidence in the team’s front office: that they’d retain the 10-time All-Star, and that they’d improved the roster this summer.
“The Warriors believe they improved this summer, team sources emphasized, basing that partially on internal number models that gave a positive-value thumbs-up to the additions of Melton, Anderson and Hield,” Slater wrote on August 15.
Slater’s referring to a veteran trio of Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield, and De’Anthony Melton. All were acquired or signed to deals with the Warriors this summer to supplant the loss of Chris Paul and Thompson.
Melton will play backup to Curry. Anderson provides a more versatile option at either forward spot. And in Hield, Golden State may have a Thompson replacement.
He’s a career 40% three-point shooter who connected on 219 shots from behind-the-arc last season. Thompson made 268, but on 124 more attempts.
