The Golden State Warriors are 16-2, the best record in the NBA, and have won 12 in a row to shake off the hilarious first week narrative that the super team was struggling to gel. New teammates Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are ranked seventh and eighth in scoring, respectively, and despite terribly fake trade rumors involving Klay Thompson, things seem to be going well. Very well, even. So much that it seems ridiculous to think that Curry or Durant would ever consider leaving when this season ends – but it remains a possibility.
Curry will be an unrestricted free agent in July 2017, while Durant will be able to opt out of his two-year deal and sign elsewhere. Again, the Warriors are the best team in the NBA and will undoubtedly remain favorites to return to the Finals and win another championship, but that’s not nearly as exciting as speculating about where a star player might end up next year. Just ask Blake Griffin.
Or, ask Curry, like the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay did for an in-depth profile of the “humble” star.
Though Curry has been one of the most underpaid stars of the past few years and is due for a significant and deserved raise, it’s difficult to think of him leaving Golden State. Although he says “curveballs happen all the time,” it should relieve millions of people in the Bay Area that Curry feels that he is home. “It’s hard to see myself anywhere else,” he says.
What about his previous home? The Charlotte Hornets would undoubtedly love to bring Curry back home to North Carolina, where he grew up and played college basketball. That was the estimated $165 million question that the Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler asked Curry in a one-on-one interview.
“Obviously I love it here in the Bay Area,” Curry said. “It’s all I’ve known in the league. And if the situation is right going forward, this is a place I would love to play.”
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I asked Steph point-blank if he would consider going to Charlotte in the summer of 2017.
“I don’t know,” he said.
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“It’s on my radar,” he said, “but it’s not really on my mind as much day-to-day. I’m just trying to enjoy what this season is going to bring.”
Translated: “Thanks, but probably not.” (That’s not stopping Charlotte fans from getting up in arms at the possibility of the prodigal boy returning home to bring the Hornets a title.)
Golden State will be able to pay Curry the most, and it’s hard (albeit not impossible) to imagine him leaving. Obviously, some stars have proven that loyalty is dead, but the Warriors front office would have to be full of morons to not move heaven and Earth to keep Curry in Oakland for as long as he wants to stay.
