Stephen Curry #4 of the 2024 USA Basketball Men's National Team talks to members of the media after a practice session during the team's training camp at the Mendenhall Center at UNLV on July 07, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Steph Curry didn’t get to duck cameras during what has become a monumental offseason for the Warriors franchise. Because he’s headlining Team USA for his first Olympics, he only got a brief respite from the limelight.
Curry, training for the Olympics with the national team in Las Vegas, sat down with multiple media outlets on Sunday afternoon. He dished on his future with the Warriors franchise (strong, but anything can happen); Klay Thompson’s departure (bittersweet) and whether he lobbied the front office for his return (at Klay’s behest, not really).
“He was in need of a change and it wasn’t a situation where I felt I needed to try to convince him to stay,” Curry told reporters. “He knew exactly what he meant – and still means – to our organization. To me, as his teammate. To Draymond. It’s just one of those deals where you have trust that he’s making the right decision for himself,” Curry added.
So Thompson is a Dallas Maverick and the Splash Bros are no more. Just like that.
Thompson departed Golden State after 13 years with the organization, signing with the Mavericks on a three-year, $50 million contract.
The end was hiding in plain sight for Thompson, who appeared unhappy as he struggled through much of the 2023-24 season. He got off to a slow start after extension negotiations didn’t go to his liking, got removed from occasional closing lineups and then pulled from the starting five.
Curry, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green each publicly caped for Thompson to return; for each of them to spend their entire careers as Warriors. But even the best-laid plans can go awry.
“We would have loved to maintain the core and finish out together, but we obviously understand the league, and things change,” Curry told ESPN. “With Klay heading to Dallas, it’s tough. It’s something I would’ve never imagined to be a reality. But you want him to be happy, you want him to enjoy the game of basketball. But it does suck losing Klay. There’s no two ways around it. You have to be able to celebrate what we accomplished, then you have to move on.”
Kerr, who is serving as Team USA’s head coach, said that Thompson’s return to Chase Center this season is going to be incredibly emotional. He began his first press conference as Olympic coach by thanking Thompson for what he did for the team, organization, city and Kerr himself.
“We’re going to miss Klay,” Kerr said. “We wish him the best. These things rarely go like you want, where you get to draw it up and execute it and everybody goes out together. We were hoping that could happen, but it didn’t.”
With Thompson, a franchise icon, gone, the Warriors could very well take a step back. Even at a diminished point in his career, Thompson still averaged 17.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, sinking the fourth-most 3s in the league.
Golden State finished 10th in the Western Conference last year with a healthy Thompson, Curry and Green and missed the playoffs altogether. This summer, they turned Thompson and Chris Paul into De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield.
Curry is 36 years old and signed for the next two seasons. Players of his caliber, and age, rarely stick it out through rebuilds. Playing without a reasonable chance to compete for a championship is a tough ask for Curry, who has repeatedly signaled that winning is the utmost priority.
If things go even further south in a competitive West, could Curry one day follow Thompson out the door?
“I mean, I can clearly say I want to be a Warrior for life,” Curry told Yahoo Sports. “It’s always been my goal, and I’m saying that sitting in this chair right now, but like you said, life, and especially life in the NBA, it is a wild environment, and things change quickly.”
Originally published at Danny Emerman