Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry does not want to be over the hill when he calls it a career.
Warriors: Stephen Curry won’t drag out his NBA career
As a recent guest on “The TK Show” podcast, Curry touched on where he’d like to be as a player when he decides to retire, saying (h/t NBC Sports’ Bay Area’s Taylor Wirth):
“Competitive,” Curry told Kawakami. “I’ve seen different scenarios, like everybody talks about Kobe [Bryant] and his last years, [but] from my vantage point, I’m comparing it to guys who only played for one franchise: Dirk [Nowitzki], Tim [Duncan], Kobe in our era, and you think about you don’t want to be in a situation the Lakers were in those last years. I know he came off the Achilles injury, but they were a lottery team, it was more just how many points can Kobe score down the stretch of his career. I don’t want to be in that scenario.”
Curry could play for several more years based on skill set
From an individual standpoint, the Davidson product could play for quite some more time in the league. Curry, 36, has been a dominant on and off-ball performer for the duration of his career. Nevertheless, as the greatest shooter in NBA history, his selflessness, marksmanship, and ability to shoot as effectively off the catch could allow him to transition to an off-guard role as he nears 40-plus.
Just off of that strength alone, Curry could remain a player of note beyond the new traditional age of retirement for elite players. As a team, the Warriors have gotten older. He, Draymond Green, 34, and Jimmy Butler, 35, lead their charge. Golden State appears slated to be competitive for the next three seasons, where all three will see their current deals expire in 2026-27.
As for his predecessors, Duncan is an outlier, as he won a championship two years before retiring. Though, generally, superstars who have played beyond the age of 40 like Nowitzki and Vince Carter, became shells of themselves. The same could be said for Bryant, though he had a green light to score in his waning days at 37-years-old.
No matter, Curry may get ahead of the curve and call it quits once he sees his play and the state of the Warriors in a place that is no longer fit to contend.