Stephen Curry, the four-time NBA champion who has spent his entire career with the Golden State Warriors, is thinking about how it ends.
In a recent interview with Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard, Curry made clear he has studied how other single-franchise legends finished their careers and wants no part of the version he found least acceptable.
He pointed to Kobe Bryant's final seasons in Los Angeles as the outcome he is actively trying to avoid.
The comments resurfaced Sunday on social media after Fullcourtpass shared the clip, and the message is the same whether heard now or then.
"You don't want to be in a situation the Lakers were in those last three years with Kobe," Curry told Kawakami. "I know he came off the Achilles injury, but it was, like, they were a lottery team, and 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."
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Kobe's last three seasons in Los Angeles produced a combined record of 65 wins out of a possible 246 games. The team was not built to compete then, but managing a legend's departure. The culture during that stretch was never about a championship, and Curry is aware of exactly what that looked like from the outside.
Steph Curry says he doesn’t want to spend his final years on a tanking team
“You don’t want to be in a situation the Lakers were in those last three years with Kobe. I know he came off the Achilles injury, but… they were a lottery team, and it was more just how many points can… pic.twitter.com/AUCHym0mU3
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) May 10, 2026
Golden State missed the playoffs again this past season. The team finished below the lottery line and has been in an extended reconstruction process, with Curry under contract through 2026-27.
One league source even drew the same Kobe parallel independently, telling a reporter the situation in San Francisco bears a resemblance to what played out in Los Angeles a decade ago.
Curry's comments to Kawakami also included this:
"My whole thing is, you have to be realistic. There's probably not a move or a scenario where you're gonna walk into a season or a playoff series as the perennial favorite. There's just a lot of talent around the league.
"But to be competitive, where you have a chance, that's what we want to see. I'm sure that's what our fans want to see. Playing meaningful games, no matter how it ends. I think that's what we deserve, and I hope that is the reality I get to live in this last part of my career."
The Warriors have two seasons left to figure it out under the current roster structure. Curry, at 38, has made it clear what acceptable looks like and what it does not.
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