The Golden State Warriors are about to spend a ton of money on Steph Curry, but he’s been worth every penny when healthy.
Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry was one of the most underpaid athletes in the world on his previous contract.
Curry was coming off of a year where he only played in 26 games and there were plenty of question marks surrounding the health of his ankles when he signed a four-year, $44 million extension on his rookie contract in October of 2012.
Steph emerged to score 20+ points per game for the first time of his career in the season immediately following his rookie extension agreement.
He went on to win two MVP awards and two championships on that four-year deal while making three All-NBA teams and four All-Star teams. That’s pretty good value for a player making $11 million per year.
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Steph signed a designated veteran player extension with the Warriors in the summer of 2017 that is worth over $200 million over five years.
The contract escalates in value so he will make $37.5 million this season, $40.2 million next year, $43 million in 2020-21, and $45.8 million in 2021-22 before he is set to become an unrestricted free agent again in the summer of 2022 when he will be 34 years old.
If you look at Curry’s cap hit and cash value of his contract, he is the highest paid player in the NBA and that’s representative of his overall impact when he’s on the floor.
Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Steph has not ranked outside of the top six in ESPN’s real plus-minus metric. He’s been in the top four in each of the past four years, including a number one ranking in 2014-15.
Curry’s elite shooting ability is the engine that drives Golden State’s historic offense, and he’s often underrated as a defender.
Last year’s injury issues are concerning, but he’s had a relatively clean bill of health ever since 2012.
As long as his ankles and knees hold up, the Warriors will be incredibly happy with the return on their investment in Steph Curry, and the bargain price on his previous contract helped build the league’s greatest dynasty.
Here’s our analysis of the other Warriors contract situations: