Pat Spencer Drops Straight Heat When Asked About Expected Role Upon Steph's Return

On Tuesday, Pat Spencer joined Steiny and Guru on 95.7 The Game.

Host Matt Steinmetz asked Spencer if Steve Kerr had talked to him about what his role will be when Stephen Curry returns from his quad injury.

"He doesn't owe me a conversation," Spencer said. "... We may address it. We may not. But ultimately my whole career has been built off of just staying ready."

Spencer is coming off a four-game stretch averaging 14.9 points on 59.1 percent shooting (75 percent from three!), 5.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game. He was a cumulative plus-51 in those games.

With that in mind, Spencer could have easily pressured Kerr into playing him more, but instead, to quote him, he's "just staying ready."

Nick Friedell's reaction to Spencer's quote reflects what many Warriors fans are thinking:

"It's a huge reason why Pat has the respect in the room. It's a huge reason why he's going to become so popular within the fanbase. The NBA is full of egos and agendas...Pat busted his ass to get to this point in his career...That type of story goes deeper than just a basketball… https://t.co/fIh6vrSRKN
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) December 10, 2025

Curry has missed the last five games, but he's nearing a return. It is expected that Spencer, who started the last two games, will come off the bench when Curry returns.

Kerr Says He'll Experiment Playing Spencer and Curry at Same Time

Later on Tuesday, Steve Kerr joined Willard and Dibs on 95.7 The Game.

Kerr said he'll play Spencer and Curry together "some and we'll see." Kerr added that he has to keep playing Spencer because of the way he's impacting the competitive spirit of the team.

Curry and Spencer are both listed at 6'2", so you have to wonder if their lack of size will create defensive issues when they play together. The Spencer-Curry duo has only played 14 possessions this season, per Cleaning the Glass.

Meanwhile, Spencer has played 162 possessions with Jimmy Butler, and the team's net rating with that duo on the floor is a dominant plus-37.0.

That's why I predicted that the Warriors would eventually have Spencer play only the non-Curry minutes, which would allow him to play 14-17 minutes per game.

Why the Dubs Need a Trade to Give Spencer a Standard Contract

The Warriors have the maximum number of players—15—on standard contracts. Spencer is not one of them. He is on a two-way contract.

Players on two-way contracts can be active for 50 games. Once they reach that total, they have to be signed to a standard contract to play.

Spencer has been active for all 25 games this season. If he was active for the next 25 games, he'd run out of eligibility by the end of January.

Most teams in this situation would simply release a player on a standard contract, eat the cost of the dead money and upgrade Spencer's contract.

The issue is the Warriors have to stay below the second apron hard cap, and they have just $264,371 of space. They'll need much more than that to give Spencer a minimum contract.

The easiest solution is for the Warriors to make a trade that a) saves the Warriors enough money to give Spencer a contract and b) creates a roster spot for him.

Here are three trade ideas that would accomplish that.