No negotiations are necessary for the Warriors with Stephen Currywho is newly eligible for a veteran contract extension, ESPN’s Anthony Slater told colleagues Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon during the latest episode of the Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link). As Slater confirms, Golden State is willing to sign off on whatever kind of deal Curry wants.
“They’re adamant they’re not negotiating with Steph Curry right now,” Slater said of the Warriors. “They are saying, ‘You can do this, you can do this, you can do this. If you want the one-year max, if you want the two-year max, if you wanna wait. Here’s your menu. Pick off your menu.’”
As we outlined on Monday, Curry’s maximum-salary extension at this point would be worth roughly $136.7MM over two years. He’ll be extension-eligible all the way up until June 30, 2027 and could sign a new three-year contract with Golden State if he waits until next July and becomes a free agent.
While Slater agreed when Windhorst suggested Curry will probably make some sort of decision before training camp begins, he noted that the Warriors aren’t necessarily pushing to finalize a deal in the coming weeks. The team currently projects to have more than $100MM in cap room during the 2027 offseason, so if Curry waits on an extension, he and the front office could gain a better understanding of the various roster options that will be available in 2027/28 and beyond.
“I do expect him to want to make a decision relatively soon,” Slater said (YouTube link). “But also, from what I’ve been told from the Warriors’ side, (there’s) no rush, and he’s eligible all the way until June 30. He could sign at any point during the season (or) after the season.”
Here are a few more items of note from the Hoop Collective podcast:
- Noting that the Warriors had interest in Jaren Jackson Jr. before Utah acquired him from Memphis at February’s trade deadline, Slater argues that’s the type of trade Golden State could be in on at the 2027 deadline (YouTube link). The Jazz essentially used future first-round picks and future cap flexibility to land Jackson, while the players they sent out were salary-matching pieces without significant trade value. There would be nothing stopping the Warriors from putting together a similar package for an impact player during the season, Slater says.
- While Jalen Duren still seems unlikely to pass on a lucrative long-term offer from the Pistons in favor of his one-year, $9.6MM qualifying offer, potential interest from Sacramento in 2027 is a factor he’ll have to consider, according to Slater, who says Kings general manager Scott Perry had dinner with the restricted free agent center in Miami early in free agency (YouTube link). The Kings can’t currently make a play for Duren without a sign-and-trade, which Detroit isn’t interested in accommodating, but they’ll be in a more favorable position if he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer. “If you are Jalen Duren and his representatives, I would look at the Sacramento Kings and know they can get up to maximum cap space next summer,” Slater said. “Zach LaVine‘s coming off the books. Scott Perry is completely turning the franchise over. And I will tell you, he had Jalen Duren’s name (marked) with highlighter pen, looking at next year’s potential free agency if Duren were willing to take the QO.”
- Within a discussion about the KingsWindhorst points out that center Domantas Sabonis changed agents this offseason, hiring Aaron Mintz and Steven Heumann of CAA Sports (YouTube link). Mintz and Heumann also represent Trae Young and Walker Kesslerboth of whom were traded to new teams and signed lucrative long-term contracts this year, as Windhorst observes. While Sabonis has a good relationship with Perry, the Kings aren’t interested in discussing an extension for him, per Slater, who views the big man as a prime trade candidate. “I think we all know where this is going,” Slater said, referencing Sabonis’ probable exit from Sacramento before his current contract expires in 2028.