Steph Curry could win another title. But should he look for ring No. 5 beyond the Warriors?
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Stephen Curry's charmed life will continue, for it is a masterpiece of his own creation. There has never been a Bay Area athlete quite like him, and it's a treasure every time he puts on the uniform.
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We've always known, deep down, that "Warriors" would be that uniform. Still, he wonders. Championships are in his blood, four times over, and if he believes he can bring yet another one home, who's to doubt him?
Well, at the moment, everyone. Even the most passionate Golden State fan has to realize that the Warriors aren't built to win a title this coming season. And that's the hell of it for Curry, who just won't acknowledge the dismissive critiques. It took him a while to decide on signing that two-year contract extension, which raises the 3-Dot's questions of the day:
In the wilds of his imagination, could he picture winning that title elsewhere? With that in mind, how many teams would even be a sensible choice?
Not many, it says here. Remembering that this is an exercise in dreamland, unattached to the preposterous obstacles that make it so difficult for NBA players to switch teams, consider Curry's options if he could magically appear in some other uniform for training camp.
Spurs: Adding Curry to Victor Wembanyama means an instant title if they both stay healthy. He's exactly what San Antonio needs. But this team is all about youth, with the supremely talented Dylan Harper fighting for a spot in the starting lineup. Even if veteran point guard De'Aaron Fox goes elsewhere, they are built to destroy.
Knicks: Definitely sounds interesting. Curry knows what it means to play in New York, and to summon grand theater as the league's No. 1 drawing card. So behold the Knicks, winning the whole thing with Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, spiritual force Josh Hart and 3-and-D mainstay Mikal Bridges as the backcourt/wing starters. It was crazy. It worked. There hasn't been a repeat NBA champion since the Warriors in 2018, but maybe the Knicks feel they're bulletproof. Why mess with a good thing?
Thunder: Nobody's stealing that show from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and this is a deep, youthful team preparing to win a second title with only the center position at issue (after Chet Holmgren got schooled by Wembanyama in the playoffs).
76ers: The starting lineup is set with mainstays: LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and 2025-26 rookie revelation VJ Edgecombe. Philadelphia needs to see whether those pieces fit.
Celtics: Trading Brown for Paul George and draft picks? That just didn't fly with Boston fans. In any case, the Celtics' 3-point obsession makes them a crashing bore - and Jayson Tatum wants to make sure he takes money shots.
Heat: Miami's frontcourt is suddenly a force with Giannis Antetokounmpo joining Bam Adebayo. Somehow, though, we just can't picture Curry in South Beach - or trying to resurrect the old days with vagabond Klay Thompson.
Nuggets: They're growing stale in too many ways, and at his age Curry doesn't need to play half his games at altitude.
Cavaliers: Excited about the season, but that will never happen with any team featuring James Harden. Nobody understands that better than Curry.
Rockets: It's all about Fred VanVleet returning from injury at point guard, with budding superstar Amen Thompson alongside him. There's also Kevin Durant, overbearing but still the right man when it counts. Too complicated.
Timberwolves: Launching a showy backcourt experiment with clever eccentric LaMelo Ball joining all-world Anthony Edwards. Minnesota needs to see if that works.
Lakers: Oh, for heaven's sake.
In this mythical exercise, championships dangle in the breeze for Curry's perusal. In the end, he stays home. No drama. We like it that way.
Zoe strikes again
Good things keep happening to Zoe Chait, just 20 years old and a Half Moon Bay standout in the big-wave galaxy. She caught everyone's attention on a 45-foot wave in the Thriller at Killers contest at Todos Santos, Mexico, in February, surviving a late takeoff and midface air-drop to ride it out successfully. And she was rewarded with the Women's Biggest Paddle award in the 2026 Big Wave Challenge competition (paddling into the wave, as opposed to being towed in), ahead of Chile's Domi Charrier and well-traveled Californian Katie McConnell.
Already an alternate for the prestigious Eddie Aikau Invitational in Hawaii - a rare tribute for any young mainland surfer - Chait has been a sterling presence at Mavericks and throughout the North Shore of Oahu. During the awards ceremony at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach, she went out of her way to thank the coastside locals: fellow lifeguards, martial-arts trainer Raul Castillo, and longtime mentor Bianca Valenti, who oversaw her big-wave progress.
"I remember surfing Ocean Beach with Zoe when she was afraid to go out there," Valenti wrote on Instagram. "Now she's literally at the top of the game. The best part of doing this for a long time is getting to help someone else discover what's possible for them, too. Watching Zoe do exactly that is so f-ing cool."
Short takes
• We all know about beleaguered Giants manager Tony Vitello, who managed to get invited back for another season, but that team needs some major changes - like clearing out his staff of pitching coaches. Some are more capable than others, but it's big-picture time. Start completely over.
• The Giants continue to realize their enormous mistake in trading away Mauricio Dubón in 2022. He's a shining light for the Atlanta Braves, making great plays, delivering clutch hits and earning deep respect from his teammates as they advance to the NLDS. (Meanwhile, catcher Michael Papierski, whom the Giants received for Dubón, appeared in 22 games for Cincinnati that year after the Giants waived him and never resurfaced in the big leagues.)
• Really dumb analytics, part 86: Sticking to his pregame charts instead of the action at hand, Boston Red Sox manager Chad Tracy pulled starters Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray with two outs in the fifth inning of both losses to the Yankees, each time trailing just 1-0. The dreadful procession of relievers turned both games into routs, and Gray was particularly steamed after his ridiculously early departure. Tracy deserves a roasting, but this happens routinely in the bigs. Too often with managers and front offices, it's a great big ship of fools.
• Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant each had playoff blunders that weren't just regrettable, but implausible, in the early stages of their postseason careers. It happens. Kids wither under NBA pressure while the veterans calmly get things done. We're finding more of the same in the WNBA. Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, the league's most explosive backcourt pair in memory, had a chance to take down Las Vegas in Thursday night's Game 3 but missed the shots that mattered while A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young presided. That's after Minnesota's Olivia Miles, easily the Rookie of the Year and an outright master of court vision, admitted being "very nervous" and completely wilted during New York's two-game dominance as the Liberty knocked off the top-seeded Lynx. They will all be back, just like Magic and Kobe, and the scripts will change.
Bruce Jenkins writes the 3-Dot Lounge for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1
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