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Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors matches up against Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks at Chase Center on January 07, 2026 in San Francisco, California.

It is starting to feel like now or never for the aging Golden State Warriors. 

After an injury-ravaged season and one viewed as a waste of star point guard Stephen Curry’s 17th NBA season, the Warriors are in go mode. 

But they have plenty to sort out. A lot of it is complex.

The final years of Curry’s brilliant NBA career are here. To avoid the end from becoming a complete disaster, the Warriors need to deliver their 38-year-old point guard a big-time co-star.

Perhaps no bigger name on this year’s open market is Giannis Antetokounmpo, the disgruntled Milwaukee Bucks star seemingly desperate for a new home.

According to ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks, the Warriors will be in the running for an Antetokounmpo trade this summer, but pulling off a deal will be difficult.

Marks outlined what the Warriors would likely need to compensate the Bucks in order to land Antetokounmpo.

“Golden State would be hard-pressed to cobble together enough matching salary and still have flexibility in adding to the roster,” Marks wrote on ESPN.com. “Because of the lack of sizable contracts beyond Curry and Jimmy Butler III, Draymond Green and his $27.7 million salary would be required to make any Giannis deal work. Curry, Butler and Green constitute 79% of the Warriors’ payroll next season, leaving six players (Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, Al Horford, Will Richard and De’Anthony Melton) each earning less than $13 million. Green, Horford and Melton have player options and can’t be traded unless they opt-in to their contracts.”

Steve Kerr is Back, so What Does That Mean For a Potential Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade?

It likely means one thing: The Warriors are not ready to waive the white flag on the Curry-Kerr era. 

Adding Antetokounmpo next to Curry, who is still one of the elite players in the NBA, immediately recalibrates the Warriors’ chances to shoot up the Western Conference standings.

But just how high would their ceiling be?

GettySteve Kerr’s contract with the Golden State Warriors expired at the end of the 2025-26 season.

The NBA is increasingly in the number of teams focused on assembling a roster with quality depth, athleticism at the wing position and a bonafide superstar at the helm. Gone are the days where it was all about constructing a powerful Big Three and just an above average supporting cast.

The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder has given the league a fresh blueprint. 

If the Warriors are able to pair Curry and Antetokounmpo, it gives them a two-headed monster arguably unlike any other team in the NBA, but it would almost certainly come at a great cost.

Whatever it is, the Warriors Must Move Promptly

GettyHead coach Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry #30 and Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors hug during the final moments of an NBA play-in tournament game against the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 17, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The time to experiment has long expired for the Warriors. 

In the 2021-22 season, the Warriors trotted into a season with a roster dynamic vastly different from years past. With multiple young players on the roster alongside Curry, Green and Klay Thompson, the Warriors captured some magic as they went on to capture an eighth NBA title in eight years. 

It was a borderline gamble. And it paid off. But that was just one season.

The Warriors have been straddling play-in seeds ever since, and to make matters worse, the younger players they were developing in the 2021-22 season — Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga, to name a couple — are no longer on the team. Poole quickly regressed after signing a new contract and was later traded. The Kuminga saga finally ended this past season.

Not only were the Warriors unable to reach a point where their young talent would develop enough by the time Curry reached his late 30s, they don’t even have a dependable co-star alongside their two-time MVP right now.

Butler, acquired two trade deadlines ago, won’t play until around next season’s All-Star break at the earliest. 

That won’t fly with Curry, who has made it clear he wants to compete for his fifth NBA championship.