For the fourth time in his career, LeBron James held the NBA world captive during the summer. That’s because James became a free agent once again, with the looming decision of where he would take his talents being the talking point of the league. James chose the Philadelphia 76ers, creating the latest super team, as the Sixers are the fourth franchise he will suit up for.
Given how impactful James is both on and off the court, many NBA players likely have followed his lead on a number of things, including jumping from team to team. From Kevin Durant to James Harden to Kyrie Irving to the now-retired Russell Westbrook, James’s peers have unabashedly left one squad for another for whatever reasons.
Steph Curry is certainly in that class of player, but he has zero interest in leaving Golden State for another franchise. The long-time Warrior was asked about potentially becoming a free agent and if there was any appeal in being recruited by other teams as James was this summer.
“Not at all,” Curry told CNBC. “I’ve always stated that I wanna be a lifer with Golden State. What we’ve built there, the fact that I get to run it back this year with Draymond [Green] and Coach [Steve] Kerr. All the contract stuff is this NBA thing from year to year is so crazy, things change really fast. But I do know my interest and mission to stay in Golden State and be competitive is there, and the contract stuff will take care of itself.”
That contract stuff is very much on the horizon, as the 2026-27 NBA season will be the final year of a deal he signed in the summer of 2024. This season, Curry is set to make over $62 million in salary, which will be the highest in the NBA.
Given his age—he turns 39 in February—Curry is eligible to sign a two-year extension that would run through the 2028-29 season, in which he’ll turn 41. That extension could be worth up to $137 million, but there are several other contract extensions on the table for Curry. Those could range from one to two years, with different salary levels, as Curry could willingly take a pay cut to allow the Warriors to allocate more of the salary cap elsewhere.
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Of course, Curry’s NBA salary is just part of his earnings power. He also makes roughly $100 million per year off the court. Just earlier this year, he signed a 10-year, $400 million contract with Chinese sports apparel company Li-Ning, after ending a lengthy partnership with Under Armour.
Whatever Curry’s next deal ends up being, he has no intention of team-hopping with the hopes of landing another championship ring. Coincidentally, there was speculation in prior seasons of him teaming up with James, but that always centered on James joining the Warriors, instead of Curry heading elsewhere.
Curry’s comments may also throw cold water on the notion that he’d one day end up with his hometown Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets are a young team on the upswing, recently retired his father Dell Curry’s number, and the elder Curry currently works for the franchise as a broadcaster. But Steph Curry is now on record saying he wants to stay with the Warriors.
Curry is entering his 18th NBA season and is coming off another productive, albeit shortened season. He averaged 26.6 points—the fifth most of his career— to go along with 4.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals. But he played in just 43 games, the third fewest of his career, due to a number of injuries that sidelined him at three different points of the season.
The Warriors were a winning, playoff-caliber team when he was on the court but a lottery team when he was sidelined. The Warriors went 24-19 when Curry played but were just 13-26 when he didn’t play. For the year, Golden State went 37-45, its second-worst record over the past 14 years. The Warriors made the NBA Play-In Tournament and won their first game before losing the second and missing out on the postseason.
Even with that, the Warriors were one of the teams on James’s short list when he was narrowing his free agency destinations. But with James choosing the Sixers, the Warriors roster will look pretty similar to the 2026-27 lineup. Curry is flanked by veterans Green, Jimmy Butler, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis, though the squad did add rookie Yaxel Lendenborg, who was an All-American and won a national championship at Michigan last year.
Curry and the Warriors will begin training camp on Sept. 29 in Hawaii, also holding their first preseason contest versus the Los Angeles Clippers there on Oct. 4. The regular season will begin for the team on Oct. 21 with a road game at the Los Angeles Lakers.
