Steph Curry Has Obvious Choice to Give Warriors Better Shot at 5th Title

Stephen Curry became extension-eligible on Saturday, and he has a number of things to consider with his next contract.

For one, he has to decide if he should sign for his full max or take a discount to give the front office more flexibility to make other moves.

But more important than that is the timing of signing the next contract.

Curry should wait until next summer. Here's why.

Warriors' Plan to Use Cap Space

The last time the Warriors had a realistic way to clear cap space for a big free-agent signing was in the summer of 2016.

Will a player as good as Kevin Durant reach free agency, and if so, will that player want to join the Warriors? Probably not, and probably not.

But having cap space will give them options to improve the roster.

If Curry signs his extension now, they'll have much less cap space to work with.

The order of operations that makes the most sense is for general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. to sign a bunch of players with cap space and then re-sign Curry using his Bird rights.

Very Little Downside to Waiting

I argued here that the one possible downside to waiting to sign is if Curry suffers a major injury that impacts how much the Warriors are willing to offer him next offseason.

I'm talking about a torn ACL or Achilles when I say major injury.

In that scenario, Curry could be leaving tens of millions of dollars on the table.

But the likelihood of that happening is very low, and even if it does happen, one would think the Warriors would take care of Curry, keeping him rostered and promising to pay him as much as they can for as long they can when he's healthy.

Why Waiting Is Especially Important This Time

Curry has chosen to sign long-term contracts and extensions to avoid hitting free agency, but doing so hasn't impacted the Warriors' free-agency plans very much in a negative way.

They've had so much salary committed to other players over the last several years that they wouldn't have had much cap space even if Curry went to free agency before re-signing.

For example, the 2025-26 Warriors had about $206 million in player salaries, and Curry had a $59.6 million salary.

Let's say in an alternative universe, Curry intentionally became a free agent in the 2025 offseason to allow the Warriors to use cap space. The salary cap that season was $154.7 million.

The Dubs could have signed a player for a maximum of about $10 million (temporarily remaining below the salary cap) before re-signing Curry.

Having one more $10 million player would have been nice, but it wouldn't have been the difference between missing the playoffs and being a title contender.

The Warriors are set up for lots of cap space in the 2027 offseason. They really can transform the look of their team if Curry waits.

Choosing to extend the contract would hurt their chances in 2027, even if Curry takes a discount.

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