LAS VEGAS — Changes have been happening in the Bay Area since the Golden State Warriors won the 2022 NBA title, and Stephen Curry may very well be the last one there.
Klay Thompson’s departure proved that even the dynasty Warriors are not immune to everything that happens in professional sports, officially beginning the disbanding of a key member of all four championships.
And as the Western Conference continues to perform well, the Warriors are in danger of falling even further out of contention for a championship after already finishing 10th last season. Will Curry stick around until then?
“I mean, I can definitely say that I want to be a Warrior for life,” Curry said in an interview with Yahoo Sports on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas. “That’s always been my goal and I’m sitting in this chair right now saying that, but like you said, life, especially life in the NBA, is a tough environment and things change quickly.”
Curry has two years left on his contract and could sign an extension this summer, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Warriors offered Thompson a shorter contract last summer, but he turned it down, wanting to play one year and then become a free agent. After receiving offers from the Dallas Mavericks and other teams, Thompson joined the reigning Western Conference champions.
“Not having Klay around, after 13 years together, it still doesn’t feel real,” Curry said. “And (Warriors coach Steve Kerr) joked that sometimes you can’t find Klay in the offseason, you don’t hear him much, but he shows up to training camp ready to go.”
“I figured come October he’d still (show up) and be like, ‘Hey guys, what’s up?’ But that’s not going to happen.”
I understand there’s a perception that Curry isn’t using his natural influence to get things moving within the organization like LeBron James or, rumored, Kevin Durant have, but it feels like he’s just going about his business a little more quietly.
“‘Oh, is that what Steph wants? Or is Steph talking to the organization? If you know basketball, you know how this works, you know what’s going on,” Curry said. “I know all the ramifications of every decision. I know I’m not making the decisions, but I know I want a collaborative approach.”
Teams are being forced to make tough decisions due to the implementation of a punitive luxury tax, which was introduced to spread talent evenly across the league but has penalized teams that have been able to draft quality players and retain their own talent.
And with aging players’ salaries rising and consuming more cap space as they get older, someone is going to end up being caught between the wings — in this case, Thompson.
This shows the Warriors are being fiscally prudent even as competition heats up. The Warriors have outspent other franchises, but when that era ends, the question is whether Curry will just keep filling stadiums and overflowing owners’ coffers.
“It’s hard to win in this league, but it’s great that we’ve been able to do it this long,” Curry said. “It’s great that we’ve been able to keep that core together for this long. Obviously, Klay is the first one that’s not with the Warriors, so it’s a whole different situation.”
“I always want to win, plain and simple. I’m not satisfied with just cashing a check and playing basketball and getting it done. There’s pressure to win.”
Curry will be 37 at the end of next season, and while he’s not the unanimous MVP of 2016, he’s still the most feared nuclear weapon in basketball. Curry, James and Durant all seem to be redefining the definition of graceful aging.
This Olympic team doesn’t have a name yet, but it wouldn’t be as epic without these three people.
Of course, Curry and Durant made history as teammates, playing some of the most effective and beautiful plays in basketball history. Curry and James went from friendly teammates to fierce rivals during their NBA Finals matchup, and now they’re teammates for the first time on the Olympic stage.
“It’s surreal having Bron on your team, because you go up against him so many times,” Curry said. “I looked up to him and I knew what kind of player he was and I got to see him work up close every day and how he prepared and what he talked about in practice. It was great to see him in a new light.”
“So I’m excited to see how we play and complement each other and build some chemistry that will help lead the team.”
Their chemistry has had its ups and downs — James went to Detroit to watch Curry’s Davidson team play in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2008 — but there were also “3-1” cookies made by the Cleveland Cavaliers to poke fun at the Warriors’ comeback win in the 2016 NBA Finals.
“It started out great. It wasn’t bad at any point,” Curry said, “and then he invited me over to his house in Akron before we played Cleveland my rookie year.”
Then things changed when the Warriors became more than a cute story and Curry became more than just a 3-point shooter. He changed the course of games and threatened James’ status as the game’s top dog simply by his presence.
“A finals game naturally provokes a healthy amount of hostility towards anyone who stands in your way of scoring a goal, and sometimes hostility does arise,” Curry said, “but through it all, I firmly believe you can have the utmost respect for your opponent, even with your competitive drive, your killer instincts and seeing your opponent’s blood flow.”
During a small media session Sunday afternoon, James brought up the (later) friendship between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the Finals-tested friendship between Magic and Isaiah Thomas and the friendship between Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, who were close in the 1993 NBA Finals, making it seem as if it was a media myth that he and Curry had to fight.
“The game of basketball doesn’t last forever, and I don’t want to waste an opportunity to build relationships and have you ruin them,” James said. “So I don’t want to miss those moments.”
“As much as me and KD went head-to-head, and you know as much as me and Steph went head-to-head, I’m able to get out of my own way and not listen to the false narrative that’s been told for so long and just value the man himself.”
The heat between the two is intense and the competitive spirit is understandable: James has weathered the ordeal of being panned by the media for not living up to expectations even when he was playing well, while Curry came out of nowhere and was hailed as a favorite without even going through the car wash.
From Curry’s perspective, he may have just wanted recognition from someone he looked up to and sought advice from, but who was simply a competitor.
Finals and the attention they bring can put small issues in a very bright light. Things you might not easily brush aside can dig deep inside your soul, exposing wounds and scabs.
But the tension-filled moments faded and a longtime respect was rekindled. Curry said James was the first to reach out to him before the start of last season to gauge his interest in attending the Olympics.
“So right now we’re in a situation where we’re still in the same conference. We lost to them in the playoffs last year, so it’s still a competition,” Curry said. “But I’m able to fully enjoy this experience and get to know him a lot better as a teammate, and I think that’s what we both deserve at this stage in our careers.”
At this stage in Curry’s career, he’s getting closer to evaluating himself and the franchise he’s in. His game is so flexible he could fit in virtually anywhere, even as a co-star.
As he stated, he wants to remain with the Warriors, but the door is a little open, whether he says it outright or not.
“I want to be in the best position to make it happen. It’s not a guarantee of anything, but until that changes and I feel the energy change, I’m going to work the same way I’ve always worked and that’s where I am right now,” Curry said.
“Things have changed quickly, the league has changed quickly, so we’re trying to adapt and evolve, and until then … we’ll let you guys know if things change.”
