Three years ago, Joe Lacob sat down with a reporter and said what Warriors fans wanted to hear: “Certainly, we’d like Steph, Draymond, and Klay to retire as Warriors. That is my goal, our goal.” Klay didn’t get there, as he left for Dallas before his career wound down, but Curry and Draymond are still on track to finish as Warriors. Now, days after the Warriors came up empty in their pursuit of LeBron James, the same owner appears focused on something fans didn’t want to hear: what the roster looks like once Curry’s run is over.

Warriors insider and San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami, on his TK Show, gave insights on what Joe Lacob, the owner of the Warriors, might have in his mind.

“What Lacob wants to do — and this might get Warriors fans mad — is build the next team after Steph Curry,” Kawakami said. “I don’t know how possible that is, but Lacob has a very keen interest in: ‘This organization is going to show what it can do with Steph Curry, and then after Steph Curry.’”

The Warriors spent this summer chasing LeBron James as their one shot at adding a genuine difference-maker alongside Curry, Draymond, and Jimmy Butler. When James instead signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State was left with a roster that doesn’t clearly commit to either direction: win now, or build for later.

While the vision is understandable, with Curry capable of chasing his fifth championship, fans have certain questions.  Should the front office have used its offseason by drafting a 23-year-old prospect in Yaxel Lendeborg and re-signing 40-year-old Al Horford, while also bringing back Kristaps Porziņģis on a two-year, $40 million deal? Those moves now seem to fans less like an all-in push around Curry’s remaining prime and more like a franchise hedging toward its next era, which is exactly the split Kawakami says Lacob is comfortable with.

Complicating things further, Jimmy Butler is still working his way back from a torn ACL, having had surgery in early February.

Kawakami also downplayed any urgency around trading him: “They’re gonna play it out. There’s no reason to do anything with his contract. If he plays it out and doesn’t come back, that’s $53 million that comes off their cap. They can trade him at the deadline as an expiring and get back money. They could let him go and get under the cap. I don’t think there’s any rush on this. I think they like him a lot.”

Butler is set to earn just under $57 million next season before hitting free agency in 2027, the same summer Curry’s own contract runs out.

Curry hasn’t addressed any of this directly. “Right now, I’m trying to get everything I can out of basketball for who knows how long,” he told Roy Wood Jr. earlier this year. After Golden State’s play-in exit to Phoenix, he spoke to the team’s issues in his exit interview, then stepped back from public comment on his future.

That said, Golden State has already tried a two-timeline approach once, pairing Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson with young prospects James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody. But it didn’t pan out, as Wiseman turned into one of the franchise’s costliest draft busts, and Kuminga eventually got traded away without becoming the star they’d hoped for.