Stephen Curry Extension Eligibility Opens August 29: What the Warriors Contract Could Look Like
Today is the first day the Golden State Warriors can offer Stephen Curry an extension. Do not expect them to waste a minute.
August 29 is Curry’s official extension eligibility date, and both Curry and the Warriors have publicly said they are interested in reaching a new deal. This is a legacy negotiation, not a leverage negotiation. Both sides know how it ends. The question is at what number.
Start with what Curry means to the franchise.
The Warriors are the Warriors because of Curry. He is the greatest shooter in the history of basketball. He is a four-time NBA champion, a two-time MVP, a Finals MVP, and the face of the Golden State franchise. He has been the reason Bay Area basketball became a global brand. There is no scenario in which the Warriors let him play a season without knowing what happens next.
He is 37 years old and still playing at an All-NBA level. His shooting has aged like an oak tree. His handle is still elite. His conditioning is famous around the league. He is one of the few superstars in NBA history who is going to be productive well into his late 30s.
The extension will almost certainly be a two-year add-on to his current deal, bringing his contract through the 2027-28 or 2028-29 season. The dollar figure will be maxed out under whatever the CBA allows for a player of his tenure. Rough estimates from cap experts put the annual value in the $65-70 million range.
That is a lot of money. It is also completely justifiable.
The Warriors have to make a decision about how they want to enter the next stage of their history. If they want to be a contender for as long as Curry is playing at this level, they need to give him a deal that makes it obvious he is going to retire in Golden State. Anything less would send a strange signal to a player who has done everything for the organization.
The alternative, letting Curry walk into free agency at any point, is not something anyone in the building wants to consider. The Warriors have already brought back Draymond Green on a one-year deal, signed Jimmy Butler in a trade last winter, and constructed a roster around one more championship push. Curry is the axis of all of it.
The interesting basketball question is how the Warriors balance Curry’s extension against the second apron.
Golden State has been more careful about cap decisions in recent years than they used to be. The luxury tax has been brutal, the aprons have restricted their movement, and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. has had to make tough calls to keep the roster competitive.
A Curry extension at $65 million per year makes those choices harder. It also makes them easier, in a way. Once you commit that money to Curry, the rest of the roster falls into place around him. There is no ambiguity about what the plan is.
Get the extension done, plan the roster around it, and go win one more championship. That is the Warriors’ path.
Curry has earned this. The Warriors know it. The extension will be announced in the coming days or weeks, and the last chapter of the Curry era in Golden State will officially begin.
Everyone in the Bay Area is going to enjoy every game of it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
