Warriors need Klay, Dray for the future

If we learned one thing from this disappointing Warriors' season, it's that this team has only one timeline: Steph Curry's.

Despite plenty of wishful thinking, there will not be a smooth, easy transition to a new, young, winning core. No, the Warriors will go as far as Curry can take them in the years to come.

And Curry should have the other two members of the team's title core — Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — along for the ride.

While Curry has sounded like he wants to be basketball's Tom Brady — playing until heaven knows when — he has three seasons remaining on his current contract with the Warriors.

That's a long time in the everchanging NBA, but it's a perfect runway for the Dubs' troika, of which the mortal two showed their age this past season.

If the Warriors' top priority this offseason should be to resign president of basketball operations Bob Myers, the next thing they should do is sign Green and Thompson to extensions that line up with Curry's contract.

The Warriors aren't going to pull themselves out of salary cap hell anytime soon. Not with Curry set to make $51.9 million, $55.7 million, and $59.6 million over the next three seasons. So they might as well ride the stallions that brought them to this point.

And while Green and Thompson would likely have to take a bit of a haircut to sign extensions, both must know that the Warriors will value them more than the market.

Green should be the easiest to extend. He wants to be a Warrior for life, he's proven that by taking team-friendly deals twice before, and he has a player option for the 2023-24 season at $27.5 million.

If Green opts into that deal with the intent of hitting free agency after next season, he could well end up a mercenary player making the league minimum or, if he's lucky, the midlevel exception for the twilight years of his career.

He only needs to look at his market this summer: If he opts out, who will pay him $120 million over four years?

The only teams with salary cap space are places where Green won't want to play — Houston, Indiana, San Antonio, Detroit and Orlando. They're loser teams, and Green's legacy is tied to winning.

Green is smart. He'll be looking for terms at something close to his current rate. This is his last chance to sign anything close to a nine-figure contract.

The Warriors are no dummies, either — no matter who is in charge in these negotiations.