A year can change just about everything in the Bay Area. Jimmy Butler’s arrival once helped Golden State win 48 games and gave Stephen Curry another legitimate shot at extending the Warriors’ championship window. Since then, Butler has suffered a season-ending ACL tear, Golden State has stumbled to its first losing 82-game season since 2011-12, and an ambitious offseason swing for another superstar has come up empty. Yet amid all that uncertainty, Curry and Butler apparently still have room to have some fun.

That moment arrived on July 27, when Butler ditched his signature braids and unveiled a shorter look on Instagram with a simple caption: “Bye bye braids.” Curry soon appeared in the comments with his own reaction.

“This gotta be a Gemini curated situation,” Curry wrote on Butler’s comments section.

The jab was hardly out of character for a partnership that has featured its share of playful ribbing, from Butler’s changing hairstyles to his well-known dominoes obsession. But there is a more consequential backdrop to the latest exchange. Butler is working his way back from the torn right ACL he suffered against the Miami Heat on January 19, while Curry is approaching a potentially important contractual decision of his own.

Curry, however, has not rejected an extension. The 38-year-old remains under contract through 2026-27 and does not become eligible until August 29 to sign a new two-year deal worth up to $136.7 million. The intrigue instead centers on whether Curry signs immediately once that window opens, with his contract timing potentially giving Golden State another avenue to reshape the roster.

Brian Windhorst laid out that possibility on ESPN this week. “He is 38 years old. He has said that he wants to play several more seasons. The Warriors are not giving up. They are missing and swinging a lot, but they are still swinging,” Windhorst said. “And one of the ways they can keep trying, quite frankly, is if Steph Curry doesn’t sign a contract extension this summer.”

The financial incentive is significant. According to Windhorst’s scenario, waiting could help Golden State position itself for as much as $90 million in cap space in the summer of 2027, when Curry’s current deal expires and Butler’s $54.1 million contract also comes off the books. That would give the Warriors considerably more freedom to chase another elite player before potentially using Curry’s Bird Rights to bring him back.

Golden State already tried to make that kind of swing this summer. The Warriors pursued LeBron James after he opted out of his Lakers contract, while Draymond Green declined his $27.7 million player option to help create additional financial flexibility. Golden State even explored a scenario involving Anthony Davis before James ultimately signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Missing on James did not immediately produce another blockbuster move, leaving Golden State’s next step unresolved. That distinction matters with Curry entering the final year of his current contract: there has been no indication from Curry that he wants to leave, but the Warriors still have to prove they can construct another contender around him.

Butler’s situation carries its own uncertainty. The 36-year-old is targeting a return around January after ACL surgery and is owed roughly $54.1 million in the final guaranteed season of his deal. Asked about the possibility of being traded in June, Butler did not dance around it. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” he told ESPN’s Anthony Slater. “[But] it’s good to know that I’m wanted here. If I get traded, I get traded. Their job is to win. Can I help them do that? Yes.”

His agent, Bernie Lee, pushed back even more firmly two days later. “The Warriors—from ownership to the front office to the coaches and medical staff—have been resolute in their plan to support Jimmy through his rehab and have him return to form and continue together on a quest to compete for a championship,” Lee told Slater. “That remains true today as I respond to you.”

For now, the contrast is difficult to miss. Curry and Butler can still joke about a haircut in July; what Golden State does next carries considerably higher stakes. Butler has an ACL comeback ahead of him, Curry can make his next contractual decision beginning August 29, and the Warriors still have to show that their latest missed swing was not their last meaningful one.