SAN FRANCISCO -- The message to a Warriors ownership facing massive financial decisions in the coming months slid easily off the tongue of Stephen Curry.
Do it whatever it takes, whatever the expense, to sustain the wave of success that has placed the Warriors firmly among the NBA elite.
“We want to keep [this team] together for as long as we can,” Curry said Sunday.
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That’s asking a lot, considering the number of players, and their respective value, lining up at the paycheck line.
Draymond Green is entering the final firm year of his contract -- he can opt out after the season -- and wants an extension. Andrew Wiggins is entering the final year of his contract and without an extension will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. If Jordan Poole does not receive a rookie-scale extension by Oct. 17, he can become a restricted free agent next summer.
That’s half of what coach Steve Kerr refers to as the team’s “foundational six.”
And this does not include Klay Thompson, who has two years remaining on the contract he signed three years ago and has stated a strong desire to play his entire career with the Warriors.
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Curry in stating his wish was as adamant as he was clear. When he speaks, team executives listen. Whether it’s Kerr or CEO Joe Lacob or president/general manager Bob Myers, all ears should be open to the requests of the franchise centerpiece and the primary reason for its astonishing rise.
“A good organization is going to have those talks, especially with me, Andre [Iguodala], Draymond,” Curry said. “We have those conversations, knowing that every decision is meaningful in terms of us putting the best team together and keeping things moving in terms of being championship contenders every single year.
“You want that to be the spirit of how decisions are made, and we want the best chance to win every single year. And we're proving with this squad, that's what the results have been.
“So, we want to keep that together for as long as we can. That's the goal.”
Green is resigned to play out the season and longs for the chance to, once again, prove his worth. Wiggins praises the organization as one that not only talks a good game but also walks it and says he wants to stay on board. The Warriors have identified Poole as a future cornerstone, a part of the core that succeeds the four-ring trio of Curry, Green and Thompson.
Those three were essential components to the Warriors scaling the rungs required to go from the outskirts of the league to relevance to contender to champion. Without them, as well as Wiggins and Poole, the squad could not have recovered from two non-playoff seasons to regain the NBA throne in June.
No governor/CEO owner in the NBA has exhibited more naked ambition than Lacob. He and his partners, with Peter Guber chief among them, have overseen the valuation of the franchise rise roughly 12-fold, from the $450 million they paid in 2010 to, according to Forbes, $5.6 billion. Lacob & Co. bought the 12th-most valuable franchise in the NBA and pushed it to No. 2, behind only the Knicks.
It's exceedingly rare that a sports franchise makes such a rapid and steep climb. It took immeasurable sweat, grit and vision -- and the caravan of cash required to pay the most exorbitant luxury tax bills in league history.
The rewards have been lavish -- four championships, a sparkling new arena and a profile as high as any franchise in the NBA.
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Curry is asking in no uncertain terms that Lacob and his fellow shot-callers atop the organizational chart continue pushing. Keep the same energy that sent this franchise into the sports stratosphere.
The Warriors, under current ownership, aimed high and accomplished what few could have imagined. They did it by being bold, creative and demanding excellence in all aspects of the business.
And by inheriting Curry.
He has done too much for the franchise, and for this region, for his voice to be ignored. He is challenging the corner offices, and the Warriors owe it to him to sincerely consider his words. He has earned no less than that much.