Stephen Curry’s contract extension is the one piece of business the Golden State Warriors have left to get done. It is also the one that carries the biggest risk.
The Warriors can officially sign the 38-year-old on August 29. With less than two months until the season, there is no deal yet.
Nick Friedell of The Athletic has warned that the wait could become a problem.
Friedell’s huge warning over a lingering Stephen Curry wait
‘The overwhelming likelihood has always been that Curry will sign and the Warriors will go about business as usual, with him as the focal point of everything they do,’ Friedell wrote. ‘But if he waits, whether as a statement about the roster or simply because he wants to see what happens next, the uncertainty would create the type of lingering distraction that will hover over the group until there is resolution.’
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. has said all the right things about getting a deal done before the season. He has also built a roster around Curry by bringing back familiar faces.
Draymond Green, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, Gary Payton II and De’Anthony Melton are all set to return. The only external signings were Georges Niang and Brandon Williams, with Yaxel Lendeborg arriving through the draft.
It is a quiet summer for a team that missed the playoffs last year, and the fans have noticed.
‘There has been frustration from within the Warriors’ fan base that the cap-strapped team didn’t do more this summer to shake up a roster that missed the playoffs last year,’ Friedell added. ‘But the ultimate barometer of just how high that frustration goes is, and always will be, Curry himself.’
The projections do not make comfortable reading. ESPN’s Summer Forecast has Golden State at 35-47, ninth in the Western Conference and far from title contention.
That is the catch-22 Curry faces. He has said the whole reason for staying is to compete for another Larry O’Brien trophy, and the current squad does not look built for one.
The extension deadline is the moment this all gets real. If Curry signs, the noise fades. If he waits, every day of the hold-up becomes the story.
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