10-time All-NBA Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry is in the midst of 2024 Paris Olympics preparations with Team USA, but it’s clear that his next phase of NBA life is very much on his mind.
The two-time league MVP and four-time champ will be without his Splash Brother Klay Thompon for the first time since the 2010-11 season, prior to Thompson’s being selected with the No. 11 pick out of Washington State in a loaded 2011 NBA Draft.
Thompson inked a three-year, $50 million agreement with the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade free-agent deal this summer.
In a new conversation with Yahoo Sports’ Vince Goodwill conducted during Team USA’s first weekend of training camp activities, Curry got surprisingly candid about projecting life without Thompson, a five-time All-Star in his prime, by his side.
“Not having Klay man, it still hasn’t really sunk in, just because you’ve been doing it for 13 years together,” Curry said. “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.'”
Beyond the end of Thompson’s 13-year tenure with the team (although he tragically missed the entirety of two seasons with ACL and Achilles tears), Curry reflected on how long he himself hoped to be with the program. The 6-foot-3 Davison alum has been on Golden State since being selected with the No. 7 pick (i.e. six spots too low) in the 2009 NBA Draft, among another loaded class.
Curry’s entire Hall of Fame career to this point, as the greatest shooter the league has ever seen, has been spent with one franchise. At present, he still has two seasons remaining on a four-year, $215.4 million maximum contract extension he signed with the team. He’s under Warriors’ control through the 2025-26 season when he’ll turn 38 while earning $59.6 million.
So does Curry expect to finish his legendary career with the only franchise he’s ever known?
“I mean, I can clearly say I want to be a Warrior for life,” Curry told Goodwill. “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.”
The team has revamped itself with Thompson now in the rearview and is hoping to return to the playoffs after a disappointing 46-36 run ended during the Play-In Tournament in 2023-24. Curry explained just how involved he is in the Warriors’ team-building approach throughout, as the club’s franchise player.
“It’s like this thing of, ‘Oh, does Steph want that? Or does Steph talk to the organization?’ Like, if you know basketball, you know how this works, like, I know what’s going on,” Curry said. “I know all the ramifications of every decision. You know I’m not making the decisions. But you know, you want that collaborative kind of approach.”