Stephen Curry watched on like million of others for another Yaxel Lendeborg masterclass on Sunday night, with the rookie forward dropping a career-high 37 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 124-112 victory over the L.A. Clippers.
There's countless positives that stem from Lendeborg's remarkable emergence over the past fortnight, including the fact that the 11th overall pick may well extend Curry's career into his mid 40's.
Yaxel Lendeborg might just extend Stephen Curry's legendary career
Curry signed a two-year, $116 million extension just prior to the season, locking in the two-time MVP for another two seasons beyond this one. But Curry also signed it on the back of a worrisome knee injury at the end of last season, and knowing that he'd have to manage his body moving forward. The 38-year-old has already rested two of Golden State's first seven games, and who knows the next time (if ever) he'll actually play both sides of a back-to-back.
The outlook also looked incredibly bleak for the Warriors, leaving the door well and truly shut for Curry's hopes of a fifth championship. Yet suddenly, almost out of nowhere, Lendeborg is changing the equation and giving Golden State (and Curry) hope for the next three or four years.
Lendeborg's instant dominance not only allows Curry to have nights off without it feeling like an automatic loss, but it drastically increases the Warriors' playoff hopes. For Curry, along with other veterans like Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, they just want a chance.
Everyone knows their days of finishing as a top two or three seed in the West are done, but that doesn't mean they can't make some noise as a six or seven seed as only proven last year where, if not for Curry's hamstring injury, they may have reached the Conference Finals.
Stephen Curry may play beyond contract extension
One of the craziest aspects to all of this is Lendeborg has only just begun his four-year, $28 million rookie contract. That gives Golden State three more seasons beyond this to build what should be an incredibly talented and playoff-contending team when you've got someone already playing like an All-Star on such a cheap deal.
Even if Curry naturally declines as you'd expect, he's still playing at such a high level that he could still be valuable beyond the two-year extension he just signed. More specifically, he could look at that final season of Lendeborg's rookie contract as another year where they could build a dangerous team.
This is obviously going a long way down the track, but the reality is that the closer the Warriors are to contention, the more motivated Curry will likely be to continue playing. In the meantime, the non-Curry minutes, and the games he's resting, suddenly feel far less daunting with Lendeborg at the helm.
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