Stephen Curry wants to end his career with the Golden State Warriors and go down in NBA history as a one-team player.
But what he doesn’t want is to Kobe Bryant his way into the sunset.
Curry told Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard that he wants his last years in the NBA to be “competitive.”
“I’ve seen different scenarios,” Curry told Kawakami. “Like everybody talks about Kobe [Bryant] and his last years. From my vantage point, I’m comparing it to guys that only played for one franchise. Dirk [Nowitzki], Tim [Duncan], Kobe, from our era. … You don’t want to be in a situation the Lakers were in those last three years [with Bryant]. I know he came off the Achilles injury, but it was, like, they were a lottery team, and it was more just how many points can Kobe score down the stretch of his career. I don’t want to be in that scenario.”
After Bryant’s second three-peat with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2010 to 2013, he spent the final three seasons of his Hall of Fame career saddled with injuries and never got back into the playoffs.
The Lakers did not become relevant again until LeBron James joined them in 2018. This is what the Warriors are hoping to avoid with their two-timeline strategy. And they were able to pull off the Jimmy Butler trade without giving up their young players.
Jimmy Butler Trade Revitalizes Steph Curry
Fearful of that Kobe scenario, Curry is grateful to the Warriors for getting Butler at the trade deadline.
Butler gives Curry a legitimate chance to be at least competitive for the next two to three seasons, which could be the final years of what has been shaping up to be a legendary career.
Since Butler’s arrival, Curry is averaging 35.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds.
“He looked like he got belief,” Draymond Green said of Curry on his podcast “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis” that dropped on Wednesday, Feb. 12. “That’s what it is like. [Butler] energized Steph.”
“My whole thing is, you have to be realistic,” Curry told Kawakami. “There’s probably not a move or a scenario where you’re gonna walk into a season or a playoff series as the perennial favorite. There’s just a lot of talent around the league. But to be competitive, where you have a chance — that’s what we want to see. I’m sure that’s what our fans want to see. Playing meaningful games, no matter how it ends. I think that’s what we deserve, and I hope that is the reality I get to live in this last part of my career.”
Curry turns 37 next month. His contract, along with Green, Butler and coach Steve Kerr, are perfectly aligned to end after the 2026-27 season, giving him a three-year window, including this season, to contend.
Emotional ‘One Last Ride’ Talk
As revitalizing as the Butler trade is to Curry and the Warriors, it is also trepidating.
Curry has acknowledged that this trade could also mean the final chapter of the golden era he built in the Bay Area.
Green revealed he had an emotional conversation with Curry after they learned about the Butler trade in Utah on Feb. 5, the game that the Warriors superstar started his hot scoring streak.
“After the trade, [Curry] looked at me and he said, ‘Man, it’s crazy because it just dawned on me that like this is it. This is the last ride.’ … It was an emotional moment,” Green said on his podcast.
