Stephen Curry could have signed for $136.7 million. He took $116 million, and the Warriors get about $10 million more to spend

The Golden State Warriors announced a two-year contract extension for Stephen Curry on Friday night, keeping the 38-year-old with the only NBA team he has played for through what would be his 20th season. The team did not give terms. ESPN's Shams Charania, who reported the deal first, puts it at $116 million, with a player option in the final year, 2028-29.

Curry did not have to take that number. He became eligible on August 29 for an extension of up to two years and $136.7 million, and the Warriors offered him a menu that included the maximum and the option of waiting, as we set out earlier this month. According to ESPN, he chose a pay cut and security over both.

What $20 million less buys

Curry will earn $55.7 million in 2027-28, according to ESPN, down from $62.6 million this season, the last year of the one-year extension he signed in August 2024. The player option for 2028-29 is worth $60.2 million. A maximum extension would have started at $65.7 million, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks, so the first year alone is $10 million under it and the two years together about $20 million.

ESPN reports that the lower salary gives the Warriors about $10 million more in projected cap space next summer, when Jimmy Butler ($56.8 million) and Draymond Green ($27.6 million) come off expiring contracts. Marks projects between $38 million and $55 million in space. The low end includes the $17 million cap hold for Brandin Podziemski, who has until October 19 to sign an extension of his own, and assumes Butler and Green leave or re-sign for much less. The high end also assumes Kristaps Porziņģis is waived; only $3 million of his $20 million salary for 2027-28 is guaranteed.

Why he took less

Curry explained his thinking on Wednesday, two days before the deal was done. He told ESPN's Anthony Slater that the salary cap scenarios mattered to him, and that he wanted the Warriors to have the kind of flexibility they had not had in recent seasons.

I want to be on a competitive team.

Stephen Curry to ESPN, Wednesday

Last season showed why. The Warriors finished 37-45, 10th in the West, and were knocked out in the Play-In by the Phoenix Suns. Curry played 43 games, averaging 26.6 points, and missed more than two months with a right knee injury. Butler, who is aiming to return in January or February after knee surgery, will miss the start of this season.

General manager Mike Dunleavy said in a statement that there has "never been a better face to a franchise in professional sports history" than Curry. The deal also takes Curry past $600 million in career on-court earnings, the first player to reach that mark, according to Marks.

What comes next

If Curry plays the 2028-29 season, he will join Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Udonis Haslem as the only players in NBA history to spend 20 or more seasons with one franchise. Before that comes media day on Monday, the first scheduled chance to hear from him since the signing, and training camp in Hawaii the day after. The Warriors open the season at the Lakers on October 21, the night after opening night.