“I Think We Deserve It”: Steph Curry Explained Why He Thinks NBA Players Are “Underpaid” — Despite Being Worth A Reported $240 Million

Whether you’re into basketball or not, you’ll almost definitely know Stephen Curry.

Steph has been a point guard for the Golden State Warriors since 2009, and in that time, he’s won four NBA championships, been named MVP twice, and holds the record for the most 3-pointers in the sport’s history.

He’s one of the greatest to ever do it, and with such a successful career has come a whole lot of wealth. With his estimated net worth of $240 million, Steph’s cumulative career earnings are reportedly around $410 million, making him the NBA’s third-highest career earner behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

However, while discussing money in a new interview with Complex, Steph shared his honest thoughts as to why he still feels he and some other star NBA players are “underpaid” by the league.

Sitting down with Speedy Morman, Steph was first asked straight-up whether reports of his $240 million net worth are “accurate.” Interestingly, he was reluctant to go into specifics, telling the host: “I don’t know. I don’t really care.”

“To be honest, that’s not something I really worry about too much. I got somebody that takes care of that for me. What I have going on is about creating a portfolio of stuff that is aspirational in terms of your wealth,” he said, before discussing the view he shares with his wife, Ayesha Curry. 

“You wanna have something that you look back and are proud of,” he added. “We’ve been blessed with so many opportunities and so many resources and so many relationships. We wanna be good stewards of it.”

The 37-year-old was then asked about the opinion that some NBA players — despite having hugely lucrative contracts — are still underpaid, considering the broader “value” that certain stars are bringing to the league and the organizations they play for.

Choosing his words carefully, Steph replied: “I think, because of the way the CBA [Collective Bargaining Agreement] is structured right now, we can't participate in equity. And that's a big deal because it is a partnership with ownership. It's a partnership with the league, and we're on the short term of that revenue.”

On average, NBA players in the 2024-2025 season reportedly earned nearly $12 million, while top players can earn over $50 million per season. However, Steph said that while these numbers might sound wild, stars like him are being prevented from getting the compensation they deserve due to rules that prohibit active players from earning an ownership stake in their team.

“Those numbers sound crazy, but what the league is doing, from whatever era you want to compare it to, to now, is probably 10x that,” he explained. “The idea that we can't participate in equity while we're playing is part of why I would say yes, we are underpaid, because we want to be able to participate in that rise.”

To put what he’s saying into perspective, Steph had the highest salary of any NBA player in the 2024-2025 season, earning over $55 million, and next season, he looks set to make close to $60 million. Meanwhile, in October 2024, Forbes valued the Warriors at $8.8 billion, making them the most valuable team in the NBA.

Steph emphasized that he feels very “blessed” to be in a position where he’s playing basketball for a living and earning that kind of money. Still, he said he hopes the rules change “sooner [rather] than later,” 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.”

Steph's comments come amid similar discussions in the WNBA, with many players in the women's league publicly campaigning to be paid in a way that better reflects "the entertainment [they] provide." "We get a very tiny percentage of all the money that's made through the WNBA," Minnesota Lynx player Napheesa Collier explained earlier this month. "So we want a fair and reasonable percentage of that."

You can read more about the WNBA pay dispute here. And here's where you can watch Steph's full interview with Complex. Let me know your thoughts on this whole situation in the comments!

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