LAS VEGAS — Even as rumors swirl about a possible reunion with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry appears content with the Warriors’ current roster despite it taking a few hits during free agency.
It’s been just over a week since news dropped of Durant’s bombshell trade request, which came shortly after his former team won its fourth title in eight years and first since he left the Bay Area for Brooklyn three years ago.
Speaking to NBA Sports Bay Area this week at the American Century Championship golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, Curry appeared to brush off the conversations surrounding a possible reunion with Durant.
“The rumor mill and all that stuff is part of the nature of the NBA and league,” said Curry, who further cemented his legacy this season by notching his first Finals MVP nod. “You take it for what it is.
“You know how quickly things can change, but I like where we’re at.”
The Athletic recently reported that the Warriors would “welcome” Durant back to the Bay Area and that its Big Three of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have even talked with Durant and entertained the idea of a possible reunion.
But the odds of that happening seem slim at best, despite the Warriors potentially being in position to provide the best package for the generational talent.
A trade bundle from the Warriors for Durant would likely have to include younger players like Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Jordan Poole and James Wiseman as well as Andrew Wiggins, who’s coming off his first All-Star season.
And why would the Warriors want to do that?
Golden State has long touted its dual timeline strategy with the goal of winning now and later as the team develops its next generation of Warriors talent alongside its dynastic core of Future Hall of Famers in Curry, Green and Thompson. Sending that projected future core to Brooklyn in exchange for Durant would erase any progress they’ve made on that front.
The Warriors proved this year that their championship window is still wide open. The losses of Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. in free agency stung, of course, but with Wiseman seemingly on track to play this season and Moody and Kuminga expected to take on expanded roles and come back even better as they hone their craft in Summer League action this month, Golden State should be a title contender for the foreseeable future.
With a player of Durant’s stature requesting a trade, it would be reckless for any team not to at least inquire about the Nets’ desire for a return on the two-time Finals MVP. That’s why it would make sense that the Warriors brass would at least pick up a phone to do just that.
But it doesn’t seem logical in Golden State’s grand scheme to discard its future to improve its chances of winning now when the team is coming off a title-clinching season. Curry’s confidence in the roster makeup at this point only bolsters that argument.
