Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Monday, September 2nd.
Last week, Stephen Curry solidified his future with the Golden State Warriors by signing a one-year, $62.6 million extension, silencing any offseason speculation about his future with the team. The deal fulfills Curry’s long-held desire to remain a Warrior for life and essentially guarantees that the superstar point guard will finish his storied career with the same team that drafted him back in 2009.
With the contract now behind him, Curry is ready to channel his full energy into the upcoming season for the Warriors. He expressed this commitment in an article by The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson, emphasizing that he is ready to give his “complete focus” to basketball.
“It’s not different from my perspective,” Curry told The Athletic. “You have an appreciation for the position and the opportunity and the support from people who’ve been with you on the journey. I’ve always said I wanted to play for one team my whole career. So it’s good to get (the extension) question out of the way and give complete focus to basketball and to the season.”
For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Monday, September 2nd:
Curry took the money now and not later. He curated a three-year window instead of scheming for four and perhaps set up what just might be a final trifecta. In doing so, he crafted a clever way of giving a vote of confidence to Golden State’s front office without sacrificing urgency.
“It’s still about winning,” Curry said, “and taking the steps necessary to give ourselves a chance. The standard hasn’t changed. The expectation hasn’t changed.”
His fourth season in the NBA was his best. He started 81 games and averaged 11.9 points, 8.4 boards, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals. He thought a big contract was coming. Instead, the Kings moved on, and he signed for slightly above the league minimum with the Golden State Warriors. That’s why he wasn’t home Aug. 23, 2019, when three of his friends were shot — and one killed — while they slept at the home Cauley-Stein leased in Sacramento.
“That kind of started a spiral of mental health,” he said. “Trying to deal with that and hoop at the same time — for a new team, on a bad deal, and then my wife got pregnant — it was just too many weird things and big changes, and I got on the pain pills trying to just run away from reality.”
Fourth-year players have been allowed to negotiate since the offseason began, and other 2021 draftees — Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors), Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons), Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic) — have signed rookie-scale extensions.
If extensions aren’t finalized, Kuminga and Moody would enter restricted free agency next summer — allowing them to sign offer sheets with opposing teams that Golden State would have the right to match. They could also renegotiate with the Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors went 10-11 in games Draymond Green missed due to suspension last season. That means they played at a near-50-win pace the rest of the season.
It seems reductive, and maybe not all that likely to happen, but Golden State should have that over-under well within reach if Draymond can just avoid choking or smacking opponents in the head.
How many PPG will Buddy Hield average for the Warriors next season?
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 31, 2024
(h/t @warriorsworld) pic.twitter.com/0garYnKCnr
Jimmy Butler is preparing for the 2024-25 NBA season with the Miami Heat, but he’s also thinking about free agency next summer if he opts out of his deal.
Per Brian Lewis of the New York Post, Butler “likes” the Brooklyn Nets and is inclined to test the market unless he can get a max deal from the Heat beforehand.
Butler and the Heat have been at odds about his contract status since the end of last season.
McConnell had been under contract for $9.3 million for the 2024-25 season and now is tied to the Pacers for five years and $54 million.
He played an instrumental role in Indiana’s run to the Eastern Conference finals this past season, averaging career highs in scoring in the regular season (10.2 points) and the playoffs (11.8).
Los Angeles Clippers C Ivica Zubac has agreed on a three-year, $58.6 million contract extension, Mike Lindeman and Jeff Schwartz of @excelbasketball tell ESPN. Zubac gets max available for his three seasons and now is guaranteed four years and $70M. pic.twitter.com/F7cSfEEqku
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 30, 2024
The news is exciting for Valkyries fans. Not only does it signal a somewhat surprising 15th WNBA team in the works (Toronto is also getting an expansion franchise in 2026), but it increases the chances of Golden State building a rivalry. The WNBA already has franchises in Los Angeles and Seattle, and adding San Francisco and Portland to the mix means the West Coast will be well covered (to make no mention of the two-time defending-champion Las Vegas Aces). Will the new kids on the block form a natural rivalry? Or will a rivalry build between the Valkyries and Los Angeles Sparks, while the pair of Pacific Northwest squads develop their own rivalry?
Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.
