WEDNESDAY, 4:04pm: Curry again stated his desire to stay with the Warriors in a video posted on his Facebook page (scroll ahead to the 2:33 mark). Asked if he ever thought he’d leave Golden State, Curry said, “Hopefully not. Hopefully everything works out and I can finish my career here. I’ve probably got like 10 good years left.”
MONDAY, 3:12pm: MVP Stephen Curry is tied to his bargain contract with the Warriors for two more seasons, but he has no intention of leaving when he’ll have the chance, as he told Jimmy Spencer of The Sporting News. The former Davidson star said last year that he’d always thought about playing for Charlotte, where he went to high school and where his father made his mark as a member of the Hornets. Still, it doesn’t look like a homecoming will happen anytime soon.
“As I am thinking right now, free agency isn’t really appealing to me because I love where I’m at, love the organization I’m playing for, and the Bay Area is home for me and my family,” Curry said to Spencer.
Curry will see nearly $11.371MM this coming season and $12.112MM in 2016/17 on the extension he signed at a discount in 2012, when a series of ankle injuries had clouded his future. Those ankle problems have since subsided and the deal has become one of the NBA’s most team-friendly. The 27-year-old becomes eligible for a veteran extension on October 31st this year, but it’s much more likely that he’ll let his contract run to term, since an extension would start at only 7.5% more than his 2016/17 salary. Signing a new contract as a free agent in 2017 would allow him to earn a starting salary of an estimated $30.517MM.
The summer of 2017 shapes up as a potential turning point for Golden State. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are the only Warriors with guaranteed salary on the books beyond the expiration of Curry’s deal. Much can change between now and then, but Curry’s apparent plan to re-sign keeps pressure off the organization and allows the Warriors to sell free agent targets on the idea of playing with the supremely talented point guard for years to come.
If there were no salary cap and Curry were a free agent today, how much do you think he’d get? Leave a comment to tell us.
I would have to say more than 200 million dollars on steph
I would say $35 mil per year on a 6 year contract. I believe that if there was no salary cap basketball would blow baseball contracts out of the water.
Maybe the upper echelon of players….but I would doubt that a sub-par player would get $12-15MM per year like some end of the rotation pitchers
A contract averaging in the $30MM range, consider Curry’s age and his proven ability to lead a team to a championship.
$200 million sounds about right over six years, although if the Knicks or Lakers wanted to start a bidding war, that price could go a lot higher.
I think that this is a really interesting question. It’s hard to think that a NBA player could out earn the highest paid MLB player. I’m not certain how the new NBA TV contract matches up against MLB tv contracts ( it would be interesting if Hooprumors collaborated with MLBTR to write about this) and the economics behind allowing teams to spend a boat load of money on players. But given the situation: 1) No Salary Cap; 2) What Kobe makes; 3) Curry just winning both league MVP and a championship; 4) the new NBA revenue, I could see him landing a 5/250 contract.
That’s an interesting idea; I’ll think about ways to produce an interesting collaboration. I think MLB gets slightly more per season on from its national TV partners than the NBA will see in its new contract, though I’m not sure how the money for digital rights compares. Still, without the salary cap to even the field, local TV contracts play a much larger role in determining salaries and where players end up in baseball than they do in the NBA. If you have a good local TV deal, it’s certainly a plus in the NBA, and you ostensibly have greater flexibility to take your payroll into tax territory, for instance, but the cap still constrains you. Thus, when all 30 teams are flooded with cash with a new national TV deal, it has a greater effect in the NBA than when a team gets a lucrative new local TV contract.
He doesn’t strike me as a greedy person. Just give him his well over due.
I would say 40 million per year on a 5 year contract.