One Free-Agent Call, One Curry Clock, and the League's Second-Biggest Bill
I'm the fan who reads October injury reports before the box scores, and I've learned the scariest words at camp aren't sprained or strained. They're free-agent decision, sitting anywhere near the name Steph Curry.
That's the cloud over this camp: one free-agent choice, billed as the only thing that could upset Curry. The particulars belong to the front office for now. The stakes don't, and Sunday night in Honolulu gave you a pretty clear look at them.
The Warriors opened the preseason against the Clippers at Stan Sheriff Center and lost 104-101. They were down a dozen at halftime, came back with runs of their own, grabbed the lead late, and then watched Clippers rookie Keaton Wagler shake free for a nasty stepback jumper in the final seconds.
Wagler, the fifth pick in this year's draft, had made exactly one three all night (the kind of stat line you mute the group chat to avoid), and he still walked off the hero. Preseason has a sense of humor. It's a cruel one.
The Warriors rookie who mattered more was Yaxel Lendeborg, the 11th overall pick, who started alongside Curry and Draymond Green. He did the connector things, moved the ball and showed the natural feel that makes him look built for this system.
He also grabbed nine rebounds and made one of his six shots.
Steve Kerr liked him and said so, then said the other thing. "Yaxel's good. We need him to be more aggressive," Kerr said, pointing to a play early in the second half when Lendeborg had the ball right under the basket, tried to throw it to Charles Bassey, turned it over, and watched the Clippers hit a three at the other end.
"That's got to be a layup," Kerr said. "We need Yaxel to have an aggressive scoring mentality and that's something we're gonna work with him on." Curry has made it clear he wants to see something from the rookie too.
That isn't coach-speak filler. Jimmy Butler is still recovering from injury, Kristaps Porzingis is dealing with a nagging health issue, and Kerr is installing a five-out attack that spreads everyone along the perimeter and, on night one, did not look seamless. The veterans were dependable. The new offense was a rough draft.
Even Green spent the week talking contracts, cheering on his show as Jalen Duren finally agreed to a five-year, $200 million deal with the Detroit Pistons. In this league, the money is never far from the conversation.
So the free-agent question isn't gossip. It's a budget meeting. Here's the money question in fan language: will whatever the Warriors do next spend payroll in a way that squeezes the most out of what's left of Curry's very expensive prime?
The chart below is where I'd start, because it's where last season ended. In 2025-26 the Warriors carried the second-highest Effective Payroll in the league, $270.4M.
They won 37 games. Paid like the second-best team in basketball, they won like the 20th.
Wait, what? Second in spending, 20th in wins. That's booking the penthouse for the Vegas trip, spending the whole weekend at the penny slots, and checking out to find the minibar was also on your card.
That landed the Golden State Warriors a team WAGE Score of 19 last season, Under Water, a long fall from a far better 2024-25. The money ran well ahead of the results.
Which is why any free-agent dollar this fall has a strange job. It isn't buying a player so much as buying minutes of Curry's prime that turn into wins, because that prime runs on a clock no amount of payroll can wind back, and every season the Warriors spend learning a new offense, waiting on Butler, managing Porzingis and teaching a rookie to attack the rim is a season off that clock.
Now look at the money from the other side, because the comparison under this paragraph is the one that stings. Last season the Brooklyn Nets posted a WAGE Score of 17 on $154.4M of Effective Payroll. The Warriors finished just ahead of them on a bill that was far, far bigger.
Nearly the same output, wildly different invoices. One team got there cheap, the other paid the penthouse rate for the same view.
The Warriors don't have to spend less to change that picture. They need what they spend to show up in the standings. A payroll priced like a contender's has to produce like one, so the free-agent call has to help Curry now, cover the minutes Butler and Porzingis can't give yet, and leave room for a rookie his coach is pushing to score.
That's a lot to ask of one decision. It's also exactly the decision that could upset the guy whose prime is the whole point.
Curry's prime is the most valuable ticket in the building. The free-agent decision decides whether the Warriors cash it at the window or spend another very expensive weekend at the penny slots.