Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers 'pretty confident' in re-signing Stephen Curry to extension
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May 24, 2021, 8:59 PM
7 min read
SAN FRANCISCO -- Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers is "pretty confident" that he'll be able to sign star guard Stephen Curry to an extension this summer after the 33-year-old led the league in scoring by averaging 32 points a game and was a top-three finalist for the MVP award.
"I don't see any reason not to be optimistic," Myers said during an end-of-the-season video conference on Monday. "He seems like he's motivated, we're motivated. I would say pretty confident we'll get something done."
As ESPN's Bobby Marks noted, Curry's new extension would be record-setting given that he would become the first player in NBA history to sign two separate deals worth over $200 million. Curry became the first player to sign a supermax extension in 2017 while inking a deal worth $201 million over five years. He is now eligible to sign a four-year $215.4 million dollar extension that would keep him under contract through the 2025-26 season.
"Obviously we want Steph back in the worst way," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "There's no reason to think why that won't happen. We're excited about that. We're excited about next season. You know, coming back with Draymond [Green] and Steph playing at such a high level to finish the season and to get Klay [Thompson] back and to have the opportunity to fortify our roster, to see these young guys emerge, it's all very exciting."
One of the reasons the Warriors remain so excited is because they are confident that Thompson, who missed his second straight season after suffering ACL and Achilles injuries, will return to the floor. As Myers pointed out, it doesn't appear likely that Thompson will be ready for the start of the regular season.
"I don't know that it'll be the start of the year," Myers said. "We'll see more as camp gets closer. When I say start of the year, I mean game one. I don't know if that's realistic or not. That'll be less than a year. I think that'll -- I don't know what date the season opens up, but I think that'll be 11 months. I don't know that that's realistic.
"I want to talk about Klay a lot, but I'm reluctant because I don't want to use that as an excuse. I don't want people to think, when Klay comes back, everything is going to be great. As great as he is, and it will help a lot, we have to look at our team and say, Klay will be a huge addition, but there's other areas where we need to improve on, as well. But I don't know exactly when it'll be."
To that point, Myers said a key for him heading into the off-season is to add more veterans to the roster. Aside from Curry, who Myers said played with a "small hairline" fracture of tailbone down the stretch, and Green, the Warriors didn't have a strong veteran presence like they did off the bench in years past.
"I do know we need veterans, and the one area I can say without kind of equivocating is we have to add some veterans in free agency," he said. "We just have to. We're well aware of that. We'll try to do it. We actually tried to do it last year with a few guys, so it wasn't as if that mindset didn't exist. It doesn't matter, nobody cares, but we were in second place with quite a few guys that I think were veteran, could have helped, but they chose to go to a team after Klay's injury that they thought they could win it more, and that's fair to them."
Myers offered an explanation of why the Warriors struggled to add a greater veteran presence compared to other teams in recent years.
"Some even said, 'Had Klay not gotten hurt I would have come'," Myers said. "Who knows if that's true or not. But that's the thing we hope we've accomplished in the last couple months, is proven to some of those kind of guys, I think the Warriors can win. They have to believe that. I hope we've showed that we're close. But that's what you get when you're looking at a vet minimum guy or a vet taxpayer that's maybe taking less money, is can I win with the Warriors. There's no doubt they like playing with Steph and they love Steve, and I think they view our organization as one that takes care of its players."
One of the players the Warriors appear to want to take care of most is 20-year-old center James Wiseman. After an up-and-down rookie season that ended abruptly after he suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee in April, Myers made it clear that he did not plan to deal the young center during the offseason.
