The Golden State Warriors’ offseason has raised more questions than answers, and Stephen Curry sits at the center of all of them.
On paper, this is the kind of moment when a team should be pressing hard to improve. Curry is still producing at a high level, and if the Warriors want to squeeze every last bit out of his prime years, the push should be obvious. Instead, the front office has looked hesitant, and NBA insider Anthony Irwin says there may be a very specific reason for that.
According to Irwin, Joe Lacob is leaning on Curry’s deep attachment to the franchise to keep the Warriors from making more aggressive moves.
“Joe Lacob gets to use Steph Curry’s loyalty against him,” Irwin explained. “He [Curry] wants to be a lifelong Golden State Warrior.
He wants to also compete for championships right up until the moment that he can no longer compete for championships. And yet, because Joe Lacob knows that Steph would prefer to remain a Golden State Warrior rather than go and chase a title somewhere else or go play for Charlotte in his hometown or closer to his hometown.”
“Because Lacob knows that he can hold that loyalty over Steph, guess what Lacob is going to continue telling his front office to do?” he added.
“And yet, you haven’t heard a peep out of Steph or his camp saying, ‘Guys, I’m still pretty good.’ And Lacob is going to continue to use that against him.”
Irwin’s point goes beyond roster-building. He also noted that Lacob bought the Warriors after Curry had already been drafted, a detail that shapes how the relationship is viewed. Curry and Lacob have both been central to the Warriors’ rise into a modern dynasty, but Irwin’s read suggests the owner does not value Curry the way many would expect.
That is a serious accusation, but the Warriors’ recent choices give it some weight. The team had a chance this summer to pair Curry with Jaylen Brown, yet stayed reluctant and ultimately let the 76ers land the five-time All-Star. Now, in a strange twist, the Celtics have surfaced as a team interested in Curry.
None of that makes a Curry exit likely. The Warriors are still not expected to let him walk. But the bigger takeaway is that ownership does not appear as committed to loading up around him anymore.
CBS’ Sam Quinn framed that shift bluntly:
“More teams should go all out when the window is open and accept the misery afterward. The time for the Warriors to do that was when Steph was in his early to mid-30s.
The two-timeline approach was not smart. Now, it’s just too late to go all in.”
Even at 38, Curry remains one of the league’s most dangerous scorers. Last season, he averaged 26.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 46.8% from the field and 39.3% from three.
The problem is timing. Curry is still excellent, but he is also closer to the end than the beginning, and the Warriors seem to be adjusting their thinking accordingly. With the franchise increasingly looking beyond the Curry era, the idea of spending future draft capital to chase one more run feels less and less likely.
For Curry, that leaves an uneasy picture. He has every reason to want to finish in the Bay Area, but the final stretch of his career may not come with the kind of help that once defined the Warriors’ rise.
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