One of the more notable missing names from Team USA’s Olympic run this past summer in Tokyo was Warriors guard and perennial MVP candidate Steph Curry. Curry opted out of the Olympics after Golden State’s heartbreakers against the Lakers and Grizzlies in the play-in. It appears that Steph chose to take the offseason to rest and gear up for another title run next year and beyond: He just signed a four-year extension with the Warriors and with his skillset, certainly has the longevity to be a dominant force in the league for years to come. But will he be playing in the 2024 Olympics?

Warriors head coach and Team USA assistant Steve Kerr seemed to signal that the door would certainly be open. Per Mark Stein, Kerr recently repeated the thing that we all already knew when talking about Curry, saying “…he’s the best shooter who ever lived.” When Stein asked about whether he could be rostered for the next Olympics, Kerr gave the answer we had all been waiting to hear: “Steph can absolutely play on the Olympic team three years from now.”

Normally, there would be some questions about a 36-year-old point guard who’s got a lot of mileage playing off-ball in the Warriors motion offense being able to suit up for the Olympics, but his MVP-caliber season in 2020-2021 showed that Curry had few signs of slowing down. Putting up 32 points per game and dragging a shorthanded team to the 8th seed before the play-in is certainly not something anyone would have expected an aging guard to do, especially when you consider that he averaged a mind-boggling 37 points per game in a whole month after coming off a tailbone fracture. Not to mention, there’s a case to be made that Steph’s style of play is better for the European-based game they play in the Olympics than most of his contemporaries. His off-ball movement and set-up pass acumen are both facets of team basketball that FIBA teams usually run, and his presence would allow Team USA to play more in that style to fit the game. Another consideration is that Kerr could be the head coach for the Olympic squad by 2024, as Gregg Popovich will almost certainly be retired from the role at that point. With his hometeam coach running the playbook, they would be even more successful with the one guy who knows it better than anybody (save maybe Draymond Green).

Even if he’s not the same Steph three years down the line, his shooting, skill, and mind for the game will be factors that would make it hard to keep him off the floor. The question mostly boils down to whether or not he would want to suit back up in the first place. Based on his comments earlier in the summer, it’s safe to say that he wanted to be out there in Tokyo, but felt he needed to get ready for the Warriors to stay in contention. An injury at the Olympics or continued fatigue straight off a season where he did an all-time carrying job would certainly affect the start of next season, and with Klay Thompson supposedly not coming back until December or January, the Dubs will need the firepower if they want to get ahead of the curve for their all-star swingman’s return.

Looking more towards home, however, Kerr’s comments also say a lot about his mentality – and the team’s mentality – moving forward for the next few years. If Kerr believes that a 36-year-old Steph Curry can be a key contributor to Team USA on the world’s biggest stage, it opens up the odds that the Warriors believe their championship window is open as long as 30 is on the roster. The biggest questions to affect that thinking rely on Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman, and the rest of the young guns to develop within that timeframe. Alternatively, this could also affect Curry’s chance to play in 2024: If the Warriors are still title contenders as Kerr seems to believe they will be, will Steph forego one last chance at a gold medal run in order to fight for a championship? While the comments from the Warriors coach answer some questions we had prior, there’s still a lot that could change between now and the next Olympic games.