Bold Steph Curry Contract Extension Idea For Warriors Floated By Brian Windhorst

Bold Steph Curry contract extension idea for Warriors floated by Brian Windhorst originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Could Steph Curry conceivably play the 2026-27 NBA season without a contract for the 2027-28 campaign?

In the mind of ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst, that’s the only way for the Warriors to retool the roster.

The 38-year-old Curry has one season left on his current Warriors contract, and on Aug. 29, he becomes eligible to sign a two-year, $136.7 million extension with Golden State.

On Monday’s episode of ESPN’s “Get Up,” Windhorst made the case for the Warriors telling Curry NOT to sign an extension before the start of the upcoming season.

“He is 38 years old,” Windhorst told host Mike Greenberg and fellow panelists Monica McNutt and Jay Williams. “He has said that he wants to play several more seasons. The Warriors are not giving up. They are missing and swinging a lot but they are still swinging. The idea that the Warriors are a championship contender this year is ridiculous. They are not. But the idea that the Warriors are finished and cooked and never competing again, I give you the 76ers. They are going to keep trying.

“And one of the ways they can keep trying, quite frankly, is if Steph Curry doesn’t sign a contract extension this summer. Everyone’s watching to see if he will sign a contract extension.

“I submit [that] the Warriors should say, ‘Don’t sign a contract extension, let yourself become a free agent next summer. We’ll do a one-year deal with Draymond Green. Let’s clear $90 million in cap space and see what we can do in the market next year.’ You can’t win every year. Steph is going to try every year. The Warriors are going to keep trying. I don’t want to hear boo-hoo about an organization that went to six Finals in 10 years and won four championships, and is still working with a 38-year-old star.”

Windhorst’s thinking is that tying up $65-70 million per year with Curry’s expected extension limits what the Warriors can add around him.

But if Green re-signs for just the 2026-27 season, and Curry doesn’t sign his extension, they would become free agents next season, along with All-Star wing Jimmy Butler, giving the Warriors flexibility to add one or two big-time stars through free agency or via trades.

Then they could bring Curry back on a smaller contract.

The Warriors have swung and missed on numerous high-profile free-agent and trade pursuits over the last two years, including LeBron James last week, and as of July 27, they likely will return exactly the same roster they finished last season with.

So a roster overhaul in the next few years is almost assuredly going to happen, though it might have to wait until after Curry has retired.

Windhorst has been known to see the bigger picture, but it’s hard to envision Curry turning down $136.7 million when it’s unclear what that might lead to next summer.

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