Steph Curry
Getty
Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors returned home to Charlotte for a game against the Hornets.
The Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry hasn’t stopped thinking about his future since Jimmy Butler went down with a season-ending knee injury on January 19.
Curry opened up to The Ringer’s Howard Beck about how Butler’s torn ACL has forced him to constantly reconsider what comes next for himself and the Warriors. The 37-year-old point guard admitted the injury changed everything about Golden State’s trajectory this season and beyond.
“I don’t think I’ve stopped thinking about it since he got hurt, to be honest,” Curry told Beck. “Just the human nature part of it comes in, where you feel like things change drastically. … Me and Coach [Steve Kerr] and Draymond [Green] talk about it a good amount, the way our contracts are aligned, the fact that last year, we had such a clear identity and we were so close to getting over the hump.”
The admission reveals how much weight Butler’s absence carries for Curry. It’s not just about losing a key player mid-season. It’s about watching a championship window potentially slam shut at the exact moment it seemed to be reopening.
The Timing Made It Worse
Jimmy Butler
GettyJimmy Butler of the Golden State Warriors suffered a season-ending knee injury.
The Warriors were surging before Butler’s injury. Golden State won 11 of its previous 15 games heading into that January 19 matchup against the Miami Heat. It was easily the best stretch of what had been a middling season.
Title contention felt legitimate again. The Warriors were playing the kind of basketball that reminded everyone why they acquired Butler in the first place. Then, in the third quarter against Miami, Butler’s right knee buckled. Everything changed.
“One of my mentors used to say, ‘Your perspective will change when the information changes,'” Curry told Beck. “Right now the information is we were close and are still in that fight to be in that championship conversation with this current team—Coach Kerr, myself, Draymond—and then Jimmy gets hurt and the information changes, and you’re trying to figure it out in real time.”
The Warriors’ winning spell before the injury was reminiscent of last season when Golden State won 23 of their final 31 games after acquiring Butler. That run carried them into the playoffs where they knocked out the higher-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round.
Curry believes they were one healthy hamstring away from a Western Conference finals appearance last spring. He went down with a hamstring injury in Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Warriors lost the next four without him.
What Meaningful Basketball Means to Curry
Stephen Curry Warriors
GettyGolden State Warriors star Stephen Curry celebrates with his NBA Finals MVP trophy during the Dubs’ championship victory parade.
Despite the setback, Curry hasn’t given up on this season or his future with the Warriors. His definition of success has evolved, though. He’s not demanding championships every year anymore. He just wants meaningful basketball.
“There’s still enough of a chance. … I tell Coach all the time: We just want to play relevant, meaningful games, meaningful basketball,” Curry told Beck. “Everybody’s trying to win a championship. Meaningful basketball is a catchall for what these last three years have been. It doesn’t mean you’re making a championship every year, the Finals every year. It doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to win. It’s just all 82 … there’s like that rush of ‘We can make this happen.'”
That perspective reflects where Curry is in his career. At 37, he’s not chasing perfection. He’s chasing relevance. He wants to play games that matter in May, not just February. He wants the Warriors to have a legitimate shot when the playoffs arrive.
The constant conversations with Steve Kerr and Draymond Green about their futures reveal how interconnected their decisions have become. Their contracts are aligned. Their legacies are intertwined. Whatever happens next, they want to figure it out together.
Curry Won’t Leave the Warriors
One thing remains certain despite all the uncertainty. Curry isn’t chasing championships anywhere but Golden State. He made that clear to Beck when discussing his future.
“I never would see myself be in a situation where I’m chasing another championship anywhere else but here,” Curry said. “There’s a certain mentality that we’re all trying to figure this out together. But it doesn’t pacify the desire to win.”
Curry wants to be like Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki. A one-team star. Someone who retires in the same uniform he wore for his entire career. Even if that means not winning another championship, staying with the Warriors matters more to him than ring-chasing elsewhere.
The question is whether the Warriors can build a contending roster around Curry in the wake of Butler’s injury. The organization was given essentially three weeks from the injury to Thursday’s trade deadline to figure out their plan for the near future.
Golden State has been heavily linked to Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. A single blockbuster trade could infuse new life into what Kerr recently called their “fading dynasty.” Whether the Warriors can pull off such a deal before Thursday remains uncertain.
The Warriors’ Reality Without Butler
In the six games following Butler’s injury entering Tuesday, the Warriors posted just two wins. The team remains in eighth place in the Western Conference standings with a 27-24 record.
Without Butler, Golden State lacks a reliable second scoring option next to Curry. Green provides defense and playmaking but isn’t a consistent offensive threat anymore. The supporting cast hasn’t stepped up enough to compensate for Butler’s 20 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.
The Warriors desperately need help before Thursday’s deadline if they want this season to feel meaningful in the way Curry described. Standing pat means accepting another first-round playoff exit or missing the postseason entirely. Making a significant move means potentially trading franchise icons like Green or young assets like Jonathan Kuminga.
Those are the difficult decisions general manager Mike Dunleavy faces with less than 48 hours until the deadline. Whatever he decides will directly impact how Curry’s final chapter with the Warriors unfolds.
Final Word
Curry’s honesty with Beck reveals how much Butler’s injury has affected him mentally. He’s not just thinking about this season. He’s thinking about his entire future with the Warriors and how it all ends.
The constant conversations with Kerr and Green show three franchise legends trying to figure out their collective futures in real time. They’re all getting older. Their windows are closing. Butler getting hurt accelerated the timeline for difficult decisions.
Curry still believes there’s enough of a chance to compete for meaningful basketball this season and beyond. Whether that belief is justified depends on what happens before Thursday’s deadline. If the Warriors land Antetokounmpo, everything changes again. If they stand pat, Curry might spend the rest of his career wondering what could have been.
For now, he’s committed to figuring it out in Golden State. Chasing championships elsewhere isn’t in his plans. He values his partnership with Green and Kerr too much. He wants to retire as a one-team star like his heroes did.
But he also hasn’t stopped thinking about his future since Butler went down. That admission reveals the uncertainty even Curry feels about how this all ends. The information changed on January 19, and he’s still trying to process what that means for the final act of his legendary career.