Stephen Curry, famously known as the “Baby-Faced Assassin,” has just turned 38 and is now four years removed from his fourth NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors. Yet the once-dominant dynasty feels like a distant memory.
Curry, alongside Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and head coach Steve Kerr, powered the Warriors to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2014 to 2018. They captured three titles in that span, including back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018.
Fast forward to today, and the Warriors sit at a disappointing 34-38 record, slotted as the Western Conference’s 10th seed and heading into their third straight Play-In Tournament. Curry has been sidelined since January 30 with patellofemoral pain syndrome and bone bruising—commonly referred to as “runner’s knee.”
Over the weekend, the Warriors reported that Curry continues to make good progress and is expected to begin live action and team practices this week. He is set for a re-evaluation soon after the team’s six-game road trip concluded on Tuesday.
Regardless of whether Curry returns this season, FS1’s First Things First co-host Nick Wright is forecasting a “quiet close” to Curry’s storied era in Golden State—barring a surprise move like LeBron James joining the Warriors next season.
Wright pointed to examples like 36-year-old Jimmy Butler recovering from a torn ACL suffered in January, and the slim chances of Golden State acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo (whom the Warriors reportedly pursued aggressively at the February trade deadline).
“I think this is the happier way to view these last few years for Steph and the Warriors,” Wright said. “Their last moment—and by the timeline of basically every small player ever other than John Stockton before Steph, it would’ve been really their last moment—was the title four years ago. That was the—’Oh, man! They had one more great run in them!’ That was it.”
Wright continued, “By the way, Steph was 34. That’s old for NBA guys his size. The fact that he was still dropping 28 points a game when healthy this year is a remarkable testament to who he is. But the Warriors didn’t handle the Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, [and] James Wiseman assets properly to try to be able to somehow have a third or fourth phase of this, and so it’s going to go out with a whimper. That’s what it is.
“He’s a great player, one of the greatest players ever, but that’s how it ends.”
Before the injury, Curry was averaging 27.2 points, 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals across 39 starts this season.
Selected seventh overall by the Warriors in the 2009 NBA Draft, Curry has blossomed into a 12-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA selection, two-time NBA MVP, two-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
According to Spotrac, Curry’s current contract with Golden State runs through the 2026-27 season.
While the future remains uncertain, Wright’s blunt assessment suggests the curtain may be falling quietly on one of the most transformative careers in NBA history.