Stephen Curry took nearly $21 million less and kept the 20th season for himself

Stephen Curry had until next June 30 to decide, and the rules gave him no reason to hurry. He decided on Friday, and he decided to take less.

The deal is two years and $116 million, with a player option on the second year, first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN. The most Curry could have signed for was two years and $136.7 million. The Warriors announced the extension on Friday with a statement from general manager Mike Dunleavy and, per team policy, no terms. (Dunleavy did offer that "personally, I don't think there has ever been a better face to a franchise in professional sports history." Nobody asked him to rank the faces. He hedged anyway.)

Here is where the money goes, per Anthony Slater of ESPN. Curry is paid $62.6 million this season, the last year of his current contract. In 2027-28 he drops to $55.7 million. In 2028-29, if he wants it, he makes $60.2 million.

The first of those numbers is the one Golden State asked for.

According to ESPN, the Warriors presented Curry with several paths in recent weeks: the max, waiting, and a slight cut that would leave them more cap room to build with. He took the cut, and ESPN puts its value at about $10 million of extra projected cap space next summer. Next summer is the one that matters to this front office, because Jimmy Butler's $56.8 million and Draymond Green's $27.6 million both come off the books at once. Bobby Marks of ESPN puts Golden State's space somewhere between $38 million and $55 million, and the width of that range is one man, who comes up again below.

So Curry picked up part of next summer's tab. That is the club's half of the deal.

The second year is his half.

A player option means Curry decides whether 2028-29 happens, and the club does not. The Associated Press points out what that season would be: his 20th, all in Golden State. Three players in NBA history have spent 20 or more seasons with one franchise, per the AP, and they are Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Udonis Haslem. The Warriors bought the cheap year. Curry kept the year with his name on the list.

(The extension also takes his career on-court earnings to $652 million, per ESPN, so nobody needs to start a fundraiser.)

What he gave up by not waiting is real, though it comes with a condition attached. Luca Evans of the San Francisco Chronicle notes that if Curry had let the window close in June, he could have been eligible as a free agent for three years and up to $207 million. "Could have" is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence. It requires a man who turns 39 this season to get through another season first, and last season he played 43 games. He missed 39, and the club's own release says 27 of those were for patellofemoral pain syndrome, or bone bruising, in his right knee. He averaged 26.6 points in the games he did play.

His own explanation, given to ESPN earlier in the week, runs in two directions at once. "For me, information and patience is key," Curry said, and then he signed before training camp, which is the opposite of waiting for information. In the same answer he named the other thing on the scale: "the absolute desperation to win." The second thing won.

Anyway, the cap room now has an owner, and the next question about it belongs to Brandin Podziemski.

Podziemski is in the last year of his rookie contract, and his deadline to sign an extension is October 19, two days before Golden State opens at the Lakers, per the Chronicle. Dunleavy said in August the club would prefer to get it done "sooner than later." Podziemski said in April he wants to stay long term. The $17 million between the two ends of Marks's range is the size of Podziemski's cap hold.

I think Podziemski does not sign an extension by the October 19 deadline. A club that just asked its franchise player to give up nearly $21 million so it could have room in July 2027 is not likely to hand a large share of that room to a fourth-year guard in October, and the two agents the Chronicle quoted anonymously both framed the number at around $20 million a year. Waiting costs Golden State very little: it keeps his rights through restricted free agency and can match any offer. The case against me is good. Dunleavy said "sooner than later" out loud, which general managers do not do for fun. The player wants the deal. And an extension that starts below his roughly $17 million cap hold would add to next summer's space rather than subtract from it, which is the one version of this the front office would sign tomorrow.

The Warriors wanted a cheaper 2027-28. Curry wanted a 20th season that nobody else could decide for him. Both of them got it on the same Friday.

Turns out you can split a check.

Sources: The two-year, $116 million terms and the 2028-29 player option from Shams Charania, ESPN, September 25, 2026, confirmed by The Athletic and the San Francisco Chronicle. The year-by-year salaries, the $136.7 million maximum, the options the Warriors presented, the roughly $10 million in added cap space, the Butler and Green salaries, the $17 million Podziemski cap hold, Bobby Marks's cap-space range, the $652 million career earnings figure and both Curry quotations from Anthony Slater, ESPN, September 25, 2026. The announcement, the team-policy line, Dunleavy's statement, the 43 games played and 39 missed, the 27 missed with the right knee and the 26.6 points from the Warriors' release, "Warriors Sign Guard Stephen Curry to Contract Extension," September 25, 2026. The 20th season and the Nowitzki, Bryant and Haslem list from Janie McCauley, the Associated Press, September 25, 2026. The three-year, $207 million free-agency figure from Luca Evans, San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2026. Podziemski's October 19 deadline, the October 21 opener at the Lakers, Dunleavy's August quotation, Podziemski's April quotation and the agents' $20 million figure from Luca Evans, San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2026.