Golden State Warriors president Rick Welts says Steph Curry is the ideal man to be the face of the franchise as they get set to make their competitive debut at their new $1.4billion Chase Center home.
The Warriors, who will be without the departed Kevin Durant, get their 2019/20 season underway next week against one of the favourites for the NBA title, the Los Angeles Clippers.
In the absence of two-time Finals MVP Durant, Curry will be the de facto leader of the Warriors as they look to regain the title they lost last season to the Toronto Raptors.
However, the landscape of the NBA has changed dramatically this summer after a number of blockbuster moves.
The Warriors have been able to add All-Star D’Angelo Russell to their roster but according to BetMGM, they are the sixth favourites for the title.
It will be four seasons since Curry was voted the league’s first-ever unanimous MVP and the pressure will be on his shoulders to ensure the winning mentality built at the Oracle to replicated at Chase Centre.
But Welts told Express Sport that there is no better person to lead the Warriors forward.
He said: “[He means] everything.
“There’s nowhere we go that somebody doesn’t ask ‘is Steph Curry as nice a guy as he seems?’
“And the answer is ‘no. He’s actually nicer than that in every aspect of his life.
“To have that be the face of your franchise is an unbelievable privilege because he is the most genuine, talented athlete on the face of the earth. And his presence makes the world better and the organisation better.
“I don’t think there are enough words to say what his influence has been on the Warriors.”
Chase Centre is an 18,064-seater arena which will host basketball, concerts and cultural events much like the 02 Arena in London.
It held its first NBA game earlier this month against the Los Angeles Lakers but the Clippers will be the first team to play a regular-season match on October 24 and Welts believes the move will boost the Warriors.
He said: “In Oakland, we had everybody in the same place. So our practise facility, players, our business operation, everyone went to work in the same building every day.
“At great expense, we have replicated that here so it’s unusual for an NBA team to build a practise centre as part of its arena.
“So when Steph Curry comes to work, he’s coming to the same place every day, parking in the same spot, using the same locker and dealing with all the same facilities whether he is playing a game or practising.
“We love that continuity and we have all of our other people there at the same time. We are all winning together and losing together.
“Does it make a difference? We think it does. It is not the only way to organise your team but it is the way we organise others.”