Steph Curry Took One Step Closer To Officially Being A Warrior For Life By Signing A New 2/$116M Extension To Stay In Golden State

Thearon W. Henderson. Getty Images.

For years, we had to listen to players like Dame and Giannis talk about how they would never leave their current teams no matter what. How they were loyal and wanted to be a lifer for the only franchise they've ever known. It was very much part of their brand as players. Even though the general public begged them to finally demand a trade, they were always adamant about staying where they were.

And while thankfully Dame is back in Portland, he did technically end up demanding a trade in an effort to get to the Heat, only to funny enough end up as a Milwaukee Buck as a way to get Giannis to stay. As we know, Giannis very much did not stay is now a member of the Miami Heat, so that didn't exactly work out either.

Both players were a great example of how quickly things can change in the NBA. I'm sure both had real intentions of staying with one team for their entire careers, but shit happens. Things can change, and in the end, they bailed. They did the very thing they promised to never do.

Then there's Steph Curry.

On the eve of his 18th season, Curry commits on a new extension honoring his desire to finish his NBA career with the Warriors. He also took $20 million less than his maximum salary, per @BobbyMarks42, accepting a deal that now gives the Warriors significant cap space next summer. 

Golden State presented Curry with a slew of options -- max deals, discounted salaries for team-building upside, or waiting into the season or next offseason. But both sides land on a critical extension to bring clarity on the season and lock in Curry for year 19 and potentially 20.

You know what? Hell yeah. While there's a small part of me that's sad Curry won't be entering the market, if I'm being honest this is the right outcome. Steph Curry needs to be a Warrior for life. We're in a era where that's virtually impossible to achieve, and I'd say 20 years (and maybe more) with the same team is how Steph's career should end. Sure there are scenarios that maybe would have been fun to see had he turned his key and demanded a trade, but I'm also someone who loves the idea of a franchise great being a singular team player. That's how it should be, and it's cool that after being so adamant about never leaving that Steph actually backed up his talk and put pen to paper on a deal that will probably take him through the rest of his career.

Let's not overthink it, it's easy to accept that deal when you're given a 2/$116M extension. Even with that being around $20M under his possible max, that's still a pretty decent chunk of change. He'll make $62M, $55M, and $60M over the next 3 years as he enters his 40s and guess what? Steph Curry is worth every goddamn penny and then some. You may think that's overpaying for someone at his age, but you'd be wrong. Steph is still one of the best offensive players in the entire NBA and isn't really showing signs of regression

which is important because his discount did help the Warriors be positioned to take one last big swing next summer on the free agent market. They could easily get up to max space, so if there's someone out there on the market that can help, the Warriors have the tools to pounce. Things get a little dicier towards the end of that deal, but whatever. It's Steph Curry and keeping him a Warrior for life is probably a little more important than whatever flexibility you want in 2028-29. We may all be dead by then anyway so who cares?

With how today's NBA works, who knows when we'll get another one team lifer. As a reminder, here's the list of current candidates outside of Steph:

Draymond - 14 years

Embiid - 12 years

Booker - 11 years

Jokic - 11 years

Tatum - 9 years

Bam - 9 years

Then of course there's the super young stars like Wemby, Flagg etc but we're still very very early on that group. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have thought both Dame and Giannis would be two guys to join the list. Giannis already had his title so it's not like he needed to leave, and Dame always felt pretty comfortable being a Blazer even without a ring. So while everyone above seems like a player that will stay forever, you just never know.

But what we do know is that all signs point to Steph Curry being a Warrior for life, and at the end of the day that just feels right.