Steph Curry wants to be a Warrior for life.
But so did Klay Thompson, and the recent departure of his fellow Splash Brother helped open Curry's eyes to his future with the only NBA organization he has ever known.
“I mean, I can clearly say I want to be a Warrior for life,” Curry told Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill in an interview Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas. “It's always been my goal, and I'm saying that sitting in this chair right now, but like you said, life, and especially life in the NBA, it is a wild environment, and things change quickly.”
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Like Thompson, Curry has spent his entire NBA career in the Bay with the Warriors.
But after Thompson chose to join forces with Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks via a six-team sign-and-trade deal this offseason, it put things into perspective for Curry.
The two-time NBA MVP has two years left on his Warriors contract and, per ESPN's Bobby Marks, could sign an extension this summer.
Golden State offered Thompson a two-year extension before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, a deal he turned down as he sought something more long-term in free agency.
Golden State Warriors
“Not having Klay man, it still hasn't really sunk in, just because you've been doing it for 13 years together,” Curry told Goodwill. “And you know, [Warriors coach Steve Kerr] made a joke. He's like, sometimes you can't really find Klay in the offseason, and you don't really hear from him as much, and then he shows up at training camp ready to go.
“I kind of have this idea that October, he'll still [show up] like, ‘Hey guys, what's up?’ But I know it's not happening.”
With the complexity of luxury tax aprons, which were put in place to distribute talent more evenly around the league, teams have been left with increasingly difficult decisions -- especially teams penalized for drafting well and keeping homegrown talent.
For Curry at this point in his career, primed to enter Year 16 at age 36, his end goal is still the same. But with Thompson's departure marking the end of an era in the Bay, he won't completely shut the door on the endless possibilities.
“I want to be in the best position to make [winning] happen, [it] doesn't guarantee anything, but until that changes, and I feel that energy changes, then I go about my business the same way, and that's where I'm at,” Curry told Goodwill.
“Things change quickly, and the league has changed quickly, so we're trying to adapt and evolve. And until [then] … I'll let everybody know if that changes.”
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