The Steph Curry rumors have gotten pretty relentless this offseason as he’ll turn 39 in March and the Warriors are nowhere near contending. If he truly wants to win, it’s pretty clear that he’s going to have to leave Golden State to do so.
Until now, the rumors have mostly been rooted in external speculation or dot-connecting, but on Tuesday, Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy added plenty of fuel to the fire in a virtual interview with Warriors reporters. He expressed that nothing has changed with Curry and that he’s confident that Steph wants to finish his career in Golden State.
But he also said that Curry still wants to win and acknowledged that constructing the roster posed some challenges this season, which is certainly one way to put it. But then, seemingly unprompted, Dunleavy brought up the idea of Steph leaving the Bay and basically said that if he wants out, he’s gone.
"Ultimately it's his call, his decision, whether that's allowing his contract to run out and move on… Look, if he comes to me and wants to be moved, [controlling owner] Joe [Lacob] and I will talk it through. We wouldn't love it. But he's earned the right to do what he wants.”
While I don’t think it is particularly revelatory, it’s still pretty fascinating to hear the GM of the team saying it out loud, especially when he’s the one who brought it up. Obviously, if Steph wants to leave as a free agent next summer, he can. And obviously, if he asks for a trade, you’d assume the Warriors would honor it.
Warriors soft-launching Curry trade to the public
But that doesn’t explain why the front office would introduce the idea and discuss it out loud for the media. In a weird way, it almost seems like Dunleavy is soft-launching the idea of trading Curry, getting out in front of it to paint Steph as the bad guy, and allowing the franchise to move on and start their rebuild.
If you take the emotions, sentimentality, and loyalty out of it, it makes perfect sense. The Warriors are pretty much stuck and should be planning for life after Steph. But as long as he’s there, they owe it to him to keep chasing the glory years.
They’d likely be better off trying to trade him for a haul, bottoming out, and hoping to build a young core that can represent the next era of Warriors basketball. They aren’t going to do that unless Steph asks for it, but now that the idea is out in the open, it certainly feels a lot more feasible.
Celtics make a ton of sense for a Curry trade destination
Curry just got the public green light from his GM and owner to ask for a trade, and they essentially told him that they’d honor the request and allow him to pursue whatever he wants. So now, it’s just up to Curry to act on it and press the nuclear button. And hopefully, if and when it happens, he desires a reunion with his Team USA buddy, Jayson Tatum, in Boston.
The Celtics make as much sense as any team out there for Curry, and could easily make the salary work with plenty of assets to spare. Curry would fit perfectly with Tatum and Joe Mazzulla, and could play for another iconic NBA franchise with a legitimate chance to rack up another title or two.
Paul George’s contract can be aggregated in a trade starting on September 6th, and he’d almost certainly be the main piece of salary in a deal if it happens before next summer. PG also notably hasn’t had an introductory press conference or anything like that with the Celtics.
I’m not suggesting there’s something in play here or anything like that, but there are plenty of dots to connect on this one. Steph is eligible to sign an extension in about three weeks, and if he does that, he can quiet a lot of these rumors. But until that ink is dry, this is one of the biggest situations in the league to monitor, and a trade to the Celtics would quickly shift the balance of power in the Eastern Conference.
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