Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry revealed that he doesn’t want to play for a lottery team in the final years of his career.
Curry specifically mentioned the legendary Kobe Bryant’s situation with the Lakers, where the team fell off in the final seasons of his career after the Hall of Famer suffered an Achilles injury.
“Competitive,” Curry said. “I’ve seen different scenarios. Like everybody talks about Kobe [Bryant] and his last years. From my vantage point, I’m comparing it to guys that only played for one franchise. Dirk [Nowitzki], Tim [Duncan], Kobe, from our era. … You don’t want to be in a situation the Lakers were in those last three years [with Bryant]. 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.”
The Warriors missed the playoffs in the 2023-24 season with Curry leading the way, as they fell short in the league’s play-in tournament.
Golden State has won four titles with Curry on the roster, including one as recent as the 2021-22 season, but it doesn’t appear to be one of the top contenders in the Western Conference this season.
After beating the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, Golden State improved to 28-27 in the 2024-25 season. It currently holds the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference which is the final spot in the play-in tournament.
Curry is still playing at a high level, averaging 23.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 39.0 percent from 3 during the 2024-25 season. He earned another All-Star selection this season, but it hasn’t been enough to put Golden State in the top half of the Western Conference standings.
The Warriors seem like they want to contend as long as Curry is on the roster, especially after they added six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler in a deal at the trade deadline.
Adding Butler gives Golden State another running mate with Curry, even though the former Miami Heat star is also getting up there in age.
Hopefully for Curry, the Warriors will be able to go on a run in the second half of the season and reach the playoffs. Golden State missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in the 2019-20 campaign and 2020-21 season, but it still has reached the playoffs in nine of the last 12 completed NBA seasons.
