Stephen Curry, the $240 million worth Warriors superstar, recently appeared in an interview with Speedy Morman of Complex Sports to discuss various burning questions in the media. From his retirement plans to picking sides in the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef, Curry spoke candidly about everything in this interview.
Morman at one point in the interview asked him about his net worth and what he feels about the current player contracts in the NBA. While addressing the current player contracts, Morman followed up to ask him if he felt in any way that NBA players are underpaid. Curry had a rather surprising response to this question.
“I think because the way the CBA is structured right now, we can’t participate in equity. And that’s a big deal because, you know, it is a partnership with ownership. It’s a partnership with the league, and we’re on the short term of that revenue, right? Like those numbers sound crazy, but what the league is doing from whatever era you want to compare it to, to now is probably, you know, 10 times that.”
“So like the idea that we can’t, you know, participate in equity while we’re playing is a part of why I would say yes, we are underpaid because you want to be able to participate in that rise.”
“I know we’re blessed to, you know, be in a position where we’re playing basketball for a living and these are the type of checks that people are earning, and I think it’s all deserved because it’s a special commodity. It’s a special industry that probably won’t go anywhere because that entertainment value is there.”
“But yeah, I feel like hopefully sooner than later those rules change a little bit so that players can participate more in the upside of team equity, the league valuations, and all that type of stuff. Just because, I think we deserve it.”
While Curry is hoping that future generations get to invest in the teams that they are playing for, he is also probably praying that the rules change to allow him to become the first-ever active player-owner of a team. Curry has never been shy to admit that his goal after retirement is to follow Michael Jordan’s footsteps and become an owner of an NBA team.
We recently saw the Lakers get sold for $10 billion, which is worth a lot more than the kind of money players get to see now. Curry, seeing the rising valuations of teams, hopes that someday players also get to earn manifold more than what they are currently earning.
The nature of the difference in the conversations in the men’s and women’s leagues is quite startling. While WNBA players are yet to sign contracts valued over $1 million per year, NBA players are aspiring to earn in the billions. We can’t blame Curry for having higher ambitions for men, but this highlights the stark difference in how lucrative it is to pursue basketball as a career for men than it is for women. Let me leave it at that.
