Stephen Curry may have turned 37 earlier this year, but if his father Dell Curry is right, retirement is still a long way off.
The Golden State Warriors superstar has no shortage of accolades: four NBA titles, two MVP awards, and the all-time record for three-pointers made. Yet according to his father, the NBA’s greatest shooter is just getting started in terms of how long he might play.
“This fall will mark Curry‘s 17th season with the Golden State Warriors,” Dell Curry told PFSN, “but don’t expect the sharpshooting guard to call it quits anytime soon.”
The elder Curry, a former NBA player himself, believes his son’s game will allow him to extend his career much longer than most.
“I think it’ll be his decision when to walk away,” Dell Curry said. “A lot of guys play until the teams or the league tell you, ‘We can’t use your services anymore.’ I think he could be well into his 40s because he can shoot the ball and requires that you have to guard him. That’ll create space for other players on the floor. So, I think that decision will be totally up to him.”
Curry still has the fire
Though Curry has already left an indelible mark on the NBA by changing how the game is played, his hunger to win hasn’t diminished. The 2024/25 season will be his 17th, and he continues to train and compete at a high level. The Warriors made it as far as the Western Conference Finals last season, and despite being one of the league’s oldest active players, Curry remains its most feared long-range threat.
“He still has those competitive juices – those are far from leaving him,” Dell Curry said. “He has the game, the will, so it’s up to him. Obviously, he’s 37, so we’re not talking six or eight years, but he has many, several years left at this ability to play in the league.”
With that kind of longevity, the younger Curry could potentially match or surpass other NBA icons who extended their careers into their 40s – names like Vince Carter, Kevin Willis, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar come to mind.
And unlike some superstars who floated between teams at the end of their careers, Curry has expressed a strong desire to retire with the only franchise he’s ever known.
Curry‘s contract with the Warriors runs through the end of the 2025/26 season. By then, he’ll be 38 years old, and decisions about his future will likely come into sharper focus. But if Dell is correct, the end of that contract won’t signal the end of the Curry era in San Francisco.
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