Stephen Curry could have chased a maximum extension this offseason. Instead the Warriors and their franchise point guard agreed Friday on two years and $116 million, a deal Shams Charania reported as Curry choosing security over ceiling. Nobody hands back a bigger number for fun. Curry, 38 in March, just told the Warriors he wants to finish the job in San Francisco more than he wants to test what the market would pay a declining-but-still-great point guard on the open floor. That is not sentiment. That is a player pricing his own risk more conservatively than the salary cap would.

Two states away, LeBron James explained his move to the 76ers by naming Tyrese Maxey's friendship and Joel Embiid's unclaimed championship as the reasons, not Philadelphia's cap sheet or its market size. Strip the sentiment and the pattern holds anyway: two of the sport's biggest earners just made basketball decisions that left guaranteed money on the table, in the same week the Bulls shipped a lottery pick, Rob Dillingham, to Charlotte for Buddy Hield and cash, which is what a team does when it has stopped pretending the timeline is long. Curry bet on comfort. LeBron bet on Embiid's knees. The house, as always, is the salary cap, and it just watched two of its best customers walk right past the table.