Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry Has a Few Million Reasons to Get Healthy

Stephen Curry touches down in Oakland on Tuesday after a summer spent rehabbing the most important right ankle in Bay Area sports.

Given how critical Curry's health is to a Warrior team with playoff dreams, don't be surprised if Golden State's training staff meets Curry on the runway to encase him in bubble wrap for the ride home. You know, just to be safe.

But the training staff will have to loosen the reins on Curry pretty quickly. For the rest of this week, the Warriors will put Curry through daily workouts designed to gauge the progress of his surgically repaired ankle. According to CSN Bay Area's Matt Steinmetz, Warriors GM Bob Myers has said that the physical restrictions on Curry have "all been lifted."

This is a critical year for both Curry and the Warriors, who are each out of excuses. Curry's got to prove he can stay healthy enough to take the wheel of the Warriors' newly tuned-up offense. There's plenty of personal pride on the line for Curry, whose doubters may include his employer (who will not offer him an extension this season).

But you know what else is motivating Curry this year? Money.

That's right, folks, this is a contract year for Curry. And while we might like to think of him as a good person who's not motivated by dollar signs, he's still human.

Curry and his wife just welcomed their first child last month, so Curry's financial planning just took a decidedly long-term angle. And although he comes from family money—thanks to the long NBA career of his father, Dell—Curry is still justified in wanting to create some financial security of his own.

Plus, Curry knows from a lifetime spent around NBA players that a career can be over in the blink of an eye. Chasing bucks isn't selfish; it's practical.

Under the new CBA, which was ratified in 2011, Curry could command up to $14.5 million per year this offseason. That's the new max deal in the NBA. Curry would need a monster season to justify that kind of contract. But if he simply proves to the league that he can stay healthy for a full 82-game slate, he could easily earn upwards of $9 million a year on a five-year deal.

Money aside, Curry's also a professional athlete. That means he's pathologically competitive, proud and has an itch to prove doubters wrong.

And really, it doesn't matter what motivates Curry to have a career season. If it's a desire for financial security, good. If it's a need to prove critics who say he's never going to be healthy wrong, great. If it's personal pride and team success, even better.

Ultimately, Curry's workouts this week are only the first step in the most important year of his career. If he looks good, both Curry and the Warriors will be ecstatic. And you can take that to the bank.