The Golden State Warriors have enjoyed the greatest period in their franchise history for decisions they made in 2009, 2011, and 2012 Drafts. Those drafts saw the team pick Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, unwittingly creating the nucleus of a future dynasty. However, it almost didn’t materialize.
The Warriors took a while to get going toward success with the Big 3 and Andre Iguodala. Years before that, the team was picking between Monta Ellis and Curry to see which one of them will be sent to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut.
The Warriors were in need of a big man before and it all boiled down to trading away either one of these stars for Andrew Bogut:
Steph Curry
Monta Ellis
What if the Warriors traded away Steph Curry back then? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/PVG0neF0ZQ
— Fadeaway World (@FadeawayWorld) May 9, 2022
Bogut has revealed why the Bucks chose to take Ellis instead of Curry, who had been offered in the trade to Milwaukee by the Warriors. Curry’s history of ankle injuries played a part in the decision.
“The reason why I’m sure [Curry was almost traded] is the person — I’m not going to name who they were — that oversees all the medicals had both [Curry and Ellis’] medicals on their desk,” Bogut said on “The TK Show.” “… I believe it was the Bucks that said they didn’t trust Steph’s ankles, let’s go with Monta, more body of work, we know he’s going to stay healthy.”
“I know for a fact because I know the person that went over those charts was doing my rehab with my ankle, so I’m 99.9 percent sure what both of those files are because she read about them.” (h/t Yahoo)
Evidently, the Warriors got the better end of the deal by keeping Curry. He stopped being as injury-prone as people feared and developed into one of the best point guards to ever play the game of basketball.
What If The Bucks Chose Curry?
The decision was up to Milwaukee in terms of the guard they could have gotten from the Warriors. Monta Ellis was widely respected in the league at the time and considered a phenomenal scorer. Curry was younger, but his shooting upside was evident. The constant ankle injuries for a small guard really hurt his stock, but what if Milwaukee were okay with the risk?
It’s hard to say whether the Bucks would have put in the right system around Curry. Mark Jackson and then Steve Kerr both realized what they had on their hands with Steph and engineered some of the most innovative offensive sets to ensure they can use Curry to the fullest. The rest, as they say, is history, as Curry can look at his 4 championship rings and be content with how his career turned out.
