Boston Celtics fans, and all of NBA Twitter, really, have gotten themselves all worked up over absolutely nothing. This past week has been full of empty rumors that Golden State Warriors guard and NBA legend Stephen Curry could be a trade target for the Celtics.
It’s not happening. It’s August. Everyone is bored and there’s no NBA news to discuss so rumors like these steal the spotlight.
If you’ve somehow avoided all of this, then congrats. Here’s what happened.
The genesis of the Steph Curry to the Celtics rumors
The San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami hinted on his podcast that the Warriors are thinking beyond their 38-year-old point guard’s limited remaining career.
“[Warriors’ owner Joe Lacob] wants to build the next team after Steph Curry… Lacob has a very keen interest in ‘I’m going to show, this organization is going to show, what it can do with Steph Curry and then after Steph Curry.”
Aggregation accounts all over social media took the first part of that and ran with it. Fans all over began to believe that Curry’s time with the Warriors was coming to an end and that the NBA’s all-time three-point leader could be had via trade.
Kawakami had to come out and clarify that he’d said that Golden State was very much looking to build with him too.
Why Aggregation is so bad:
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) July 26, 2026
-I said GSWs offered multiple picks recently & probably will again... but only for top players. Not just for the adrenaline.
-Because they're ALSO thinking of a post-Curry future.
-But if a difference-maker's available, they'll likely try again. https://t.co/eWltV7B5I7
Nonetheless, Pandora’s Box had been opened, and the Celtics community began to toy with the idea of swinging a trade for the two-time MVP. Newly-acquired forward Paul George’s salary is nearly a perfect match for Curry’s, so the trade machine has gotten plenty of use here in the Northeast.
There is an absolute avalanche of nothingness happening in Celtics land
Longtime Celtics beat reporter and Locked On Celtics podcast host John Karalis wrote a column where he shared his opinion on Boston’s potential ability to trade for Curry if he were ever to demand a trade.
He detailed each party’s point of view, before pessimistically concluding that he doesn’t think Curry will be made available for trade, but the Celtics would almost certainly call the Warriors if he were.
“I’m not entirely confident in Curry being traded this season,” Karalis wrote. “It would be a bit of a shocking development if he did. There's no doubt Brad Stevens has already been on the phone with the Warriors brass to pitch a deal if they want one.”
You’ll never guess which part the aggregators ran with. Poor Karalis became Celtics' Dr. Oppenheimer because he got creative with some offseason content.
That’s right. Now, half the Celtics fanbase thinks that Brad Stevens has already made an offer to Golden State’s front office for Curry. I’ve had multiple friends reach out to me asking when a deal is happening.
Karalis, much like Kawakami, had to post a tweet to clarify the information being circulated with his name attached.
I did not report that the Celtics made an offer to the Warriors
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) August 2, 2026
I wrote a column that said IF the Warriors were open to a Steph trade that Brad WOULD call.
I thought it was pretty clear that the whole piece was my opinion
Misinformation is an epidemic right now.
I mean, some guy tweeted a five-year old photo of Curry sitting with Joe Mazzulla at Strega in the North End, celebrating his then newly acquired three-point record.
*Below post NSFW*
It’s all fun and games until my friends starting hitting the group chat on some “are we getting Steph Curry” bullshit https://t.co/u4n45YzYpR
— Sam LaFrance (@SamLaFranceNBA) August 2, 2026
Here's the original:
New NBA 3-point all-time leader Steph Curry dined Thursday night at Strega North End, which presented him with a special pizza. I wonder if he ate the whole thing? #Warriors #Celtics pic.twitter.com/Ek6U7dAT02
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) December 17, 2021
It’s Monday morning as I write this. There’s at least one guy somewhere in New England who’s chatting up his coworkers and asking them if they saw Mazzulla and Curry out to dinner this weekend.
Meanwhile, ESPN's Shams Charania reported last week that Curry and the Warriors have mutual interest in working on a contract extension this summer. Yet, that report didn't find its way onto every basketball fan's timeline, now did it?
Maybe it’s on them for so easily believing what they see on the internet, but it should not be this easy to be misled. This isn't to blame Kawakami, Karalis, or any other reporter whose work is picked through and aggregated for clicks. They're simply doing their jobs. Both guys were sure to give the full context to the viral pieces of their work.
Community notes help, but the NBA Centrals and Legion Hoops of the world need to be held accountable when their accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers use deciptive posts to farm engagement.
Add us as a preferred source on Google