Steph Curry supported Warriors exploring Kevin Durant trade
Three seasons, three Finals appearances, two titles — Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry were one of the most dominant duos in NBA history.
And it appears that three years after their curious split, Curry was fully on board with running it back.
In a wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone’s Matt Sullivan, the 2022 Finals MVP said the Warriors had internal conversations about trading for the Nets superstar.
“I was never hesitant,” Curry said. “The idea of playing with KD and knowing who he is as a person, from our history in those three years, I think KD’s a really good dude. I think he has had certain things happen in his life that hurt his ability to trust people around him, in a sense of making him feel safe at all times. So all of those things, I understand, having played with him and gotten to know him. I love that dude.
“And if you said, ‘Oh, KD’s coming back, and we’re gonna play with him,’ I had so much fun playing with him those three years, I’d be like, ‘Hell, yeah!’”
Durant, of course, requested a trade from Brooklyn shortly after his former team won its fourth title in eight years. That sent shockwaves throughout the league, with several clubs presumably concocting potential trade packages for the future Hall of Famer.
KD reportedly favored a move to Phoenix or Miami.
Curry, in a conversation with rapper Snoop Dogg that Rolling Stone shadowed, felt like Durant wasn’t being realistic about how much trading for him would change the complexion of his new club.
Of the Boston Celtics, he said, “They have a little bit of everything, but they would have to deal with the organizational transition to get rid of Jaylen [Brown]. He’s such a pivotal piece.… If they would have done that—” Curry broke apart his fingertips in an explosion, and agreed with Snoop that Durant was better off staying with the Nets.
“Man, he thinks that they’re gonna go to teams — like if he went to Phoenix — that they’re gonna be the same team if he’s there,” Curry said.
The 33-year-old Durant ultimately reneged on his demand and instead remains on the same Brooklyn team, which is expected to contend in the East in 2022-23 despite all the drama, so long as KD and Kyrie Irving are on the roster and on the court. The former MVP staying put also means there isn’t an overwhelming favorite to win next year’s title.
Per Curry, the defending champs would have made several of their youngest assets available to reunite with Durant.
“I’m like, ‘Hell, yeah!’” Curry said. “There’s all types of emotion and things that happen to the league. And if anybody’s saying that you wouldn’t entertain that conversation — no disrespect to anybody on our team — you don’t know how things work. But you also understand, like, if we run this thing back, I’ve got complete confidence in my team that we can win it again, as constructed.
“So, all those things were true. And it started with me wanting to play with KD at the beginning. Yeah, it’s about winning, it’s about having fun, playing the game of basketball. And that was part of the reaction of, like, ‘Yeah, it’d be amazing.’”
It certainly was.
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