The Warriors dynasty that NBA fans have a love-hate relationship with almost never happened. And the blame would have been on the man who was integral in making it such a well-oiled machine, head coach Steve Kerr.
During a recent interview, Kerr and Golden State star Steph Curry discussed the near-trade that almost kept the guard from ever wearing a Warriors jersey in the first place. Kerr, the general manager of the Suns at the time, explained how he attempted to trade for Curry ahead of the 2009 NBA draft and thought he had a deal “done.”
“We were looking at Steph and seeing Steve Nash, the next version .... We tried to trade for him, and we thought we had a deal the night before the draft,” Kerr explained on Showtime’s Headliners with Rachel Nichols. “It wasn’t completed, but it was basically a discussion over the phone that we thought was done.”
Steve Kerr tried to trade for Steph on draft night when he was the Suns GM. 🤯
— SHOWTIME Basketball (@shobasketball) December 6, 2023
Catch the new episode of Headliners with @Rachel__Nichols, @StephenCurry30, and Steve Kerr tomorrow on Paramount+ with Showtime.#ComingInHot #dubnation pic.twitter.com/CahfEJZLsu
“So when he fell to seven, our draft room erupted because we thought the deal was in place and Steph was going to be a Phoenix Sun. And it didn’t happen, it fell through … so that was part of the appeal when I was offered the job to come to the Warriors.”
Obviously, history would have been altered massively, and we wouldn’t have ever known about the potential of the Warriors’ dynasty. But things worked out perfectly for Kerr, largely thanks to that trade falling through.
