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

Curry must consider doing something he hasn't done in the past

Stephen Curry | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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 with what's left to stay under the cap.

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 prevented the Warriors from making other moves.

That's because of how the NBA handles cap holds. I'll explain using last season as an 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.

What the Warriors would want to do is a) sign a player for about $10 million to get right to the salary cap line and then b) re-sign Curry going over the salary cap.

But the NBA wouldn't allow that because Curry's cap hold would've been about $60 million, which is counted against the salary cap until it is renounced. If a team renounces a cap hold, that team loses the ability to re-sign the player with Bird rights. Without Bird rights or cap space, the most a team can sign a player for is the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which was $14.1 million in 2025-26.

There's no way Curry would have considered a $14.1 million salary.

So Curry waiting to re-sign had no strategic value.

But the 2027 offseason is different because even with Curry's massive cap hold, the Warriors will have cap space.

If Curry waits until 2027 to sign a new contract, he can find out what the Dubs are planning and then take a pay cut based on the exact total the Warriors need to save to afford their free-agency shopping spree.