Following another conquering of the NBA universe and securing a championship for the Golden State Warriors, point guard Steph Curry was rewarded with a record five-year, $201 million contract. It was, at the time, the largest deal in NBA history, until it was later usurped by the hefty deal Russell Westbrook was given by the Thunder to re-up for the same length of time. Curry's previous contract with the team had led to him being underpaid, relative to his on-court performance and superstar status in the Oakland area, so it's not inconceivable that the Warriors had to pony up some serious cash in order to keep the MVP in the fold. However, based on a new report from The Athletic, the max contract was a scenario that nearly wasn't.
Apparently, Warriors owner Joe Lacob did not want to hook Curry up with a max deal, something the team's general manager was opposed to and ultimately got the all-star to sign. The Athletic's Marcus Thompson details how Steph's game has evolved over the last few seasons and how it ultimately paid dividends with financial growth as well. Thompson writes:
"On top of that, as the Warriors prepared for the postseason, Warriors owner Joe Lacob was considering offering Curry a contract below the max, even though Curry has been one of the most underpaid players in all of sports over the last three seasons. Warriors general manager Bob Myers kept Lacob from bringing a reduced offer to the negotiating table, but it was enough of a thing that Myers reassured Curry of the franchise’s commitment."
Though the scenario with the team now is that Kevin Durant, arguably the player that played the biggest part in the Dubs' championship run this past spring, left money on the table with his contract, Curry may have thought that he was going to be asked to do the same thing. "Curry knew there were mumblings of possibly asking him to take less than the max," said Thompson. "He brushed it off as a meaningless until it was actually time to sign." Should he have taken the discount? Or is he worth the "supermax" contract he got? Sound off below!