In a revelation that is to be expected, reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry said he is not interested in leaving his current team, insisting that he is not interested in trying free agency when his contract with the Golden State Warriors expires in 2017, making him eligible to do so.
He told Sporting News in an interview, "As I am thinking right now, free agency isn't really appealing to me because I love where I'm at, love the organization I'm playing for, and the Bay Area is home for me and my family."
Curry is the heart and soul of the Golden State Warriors, a young and talented team that is coming off fresh from winning the 2015 NBA Championship and is expected to duplicate that feat for several years more.
His $44-million four-year contract with the Warriors he signed in 2012 will end in 2017. The deal will pay him $11.3 million this upcoming 2015-16 season and $12.1 million in 2016-17.
Writing in his column, Talking Points for the Bay Area News Group, Tim Kawakami said that Curry has to be a free agent to enable him to negotiate for the maximum level deal $172.5 million over five years.
Kawakami wrote, "My point, though: Curry has to hit free agency in order to qualify for the $30M salary. He has to let his current contract expire, has to play it out, even if he has every intention of re-signing with the Warriors at the first possible instance." He made these computations, "If Curry signs an extension with the Warriors before his current deal expires in July 2017, the maximum length/value he could get is three years, $41.93M. If Curry waits until his deal expires in July 2017, then re-signs with the Warriors, the maximum length/value he could get is five years, $172.5M. If Curry becomes a free agent in July 2017, the max another team could offer him would be four years, $128.1M."
To put it into perspective, Curry's team mates, including Klay Thompson ($15 million), Draymond Green ($14.2 million), Andrew Bogut ($12 million) and Andre Iguodala ($11.7 million) are set to make more money than him this season. Barring any untoward incident, and God forbids, injury, Curry is expecting a massive payday only after two years. But the Christian basketball player said that thought has not yet entered his mind.
"It helps being world champs and you want to continue to build the momentum that we've established, and I hope to have a huge part of that in the long term," Curry said, "But I think the best approach for me is to try and stay as 'in the moment' as possible. Everybody in this league is going to have many decisions to make, and you'll be in a lot of different situations throughout your career, so in order to enjoy the ride, you kind of have to not get too ahead of yourself and just stay in the moment."
Curry insisted that he and his family love living in the Bay Area and all of them want to stay there for the long term.
