Doubling something like a dollar is different with amounts, the more you start with the less changes. Lifestyle between making 70k a year and 140k a year is a huge jump, 20k to 40k and even more astronomical jump. But as it goes up your day to day life changes even less. Curry who's making 12.1 mil a year + endorsements with a Wife and Kids, probably spending most days in the gym, isn't going to see much difference between 12 and 24 mil + the same endorsements a year, just more luxuries.

What could change especially for a guy like Curry, from taking a paycut to keep the one of the most dominant lineups in history together, to bring more championships to his new city, is legacy. The respect he could earn from taking the paycut is HUGE compared to doing what everyone else has always done, taking the max.

It also depends who you are. Depends how you care about your legacy, your finances as is, etc. Curry grew up well off, he's never hurt for money so maybe he doesn't have the same drive to get as much cash as possible, but he has shown a HUGE dedication to the game and winning. He said before "if I'm complaining about $44 million over four years, then I've got other issues in my life."