It may be time for Stephen Curry to ask out.
On the surface, that seems like a truly inexplicable statement. Curry has won four championships and two MVPs with the Golden State Warriors, and they have consistently put an excellent team around him to pursue those skyscraper goals.
It probably seemed impossible that Klay Thompson would walk away from the team as well, but he’s now teaming up with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in Dallas. At some point, enough can change that the “impossible” simply becomes “unlikely” and suddenly heartbreak occurs.
Could Stephen Curry really demand a trade?
What we are going to discuss is a complicated conversation, and this piece is not advocating that Curry would be foolish not to ask for a trade. He is the greatest player in franchise history, has accomplished untold feats in this uniform, and he has deep relationships with the city, the fan base and both Steve Kerr and Draymond Green, who remain with the franchise. Speaking as a fan for a moment and not as someone covering the team, I want Curry to retire with the Warriors having never played a minute for another franchise.
You could easily write a “3 reasons Steph Curry should not demand a trade” piece; perhaps we will. But there is also a case to be made for Curry going to owner Joe Lacob and telling him he is ready to move on, a case likely to be discussed by Curry’s inner circle over the coming months, and it’s our responsibility to cover that side of the situation as well.
Why would a franchise legend ask out of the only NBA home he has ever known? Let’s discuss three compelling reasons that could potentially crack open the door to that possibility.
No. 1: The Warriors are longshots just to make the playoffs
Last season the Golden State Warriors won 46 games, a respectable finish for a good basketball team. They weren’t a true title contender, but they were a good team. Yet those 46 wins were only enough for 10th place in the Western Conference, and they had to go on the road for a single elimination showdown with Sacramento, a game they lost.
There are reasons for the Warriors to think that they can be better this season, from a solid trio of free-agent signings to the expectation for a full season from Draymond Green.
The problem is that the Western Conference has only gotten stronger around them. The Memphis Grizzlies are healthy and likely to bound back into the Top 6 of the conference. The New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings finished just above them and look better.
The Houston Rockets were behind them and should be better. The San Antonio Spurs may have a top 10 player on their hands next year and added former Warriors Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes to help them be respectable. Even the Utah Jazz didn’t trade Lauri Markkanen, so they aren’t guaranteed to be bad; what if they cash in some trade assets to land Brandon Ingram? Of the teams around them in the standings, only the LA Clippers project to be worse next year.
Golden State is currently projected to win around 42-45 wins according to most sportsbooks. To pick one at random, ESPN Bet has the Warriors’ line set at 43.5 wins, which is again 10th in the Western Conference, and just one win above the Rockets for 11th.
The Warriors could certainly defy those projections, but they will have to leapfrog multiple teams and then win through the Play-In Tournament just to get into the final-8 playoff field. Is that truly what Stephen Curry wants to be heading into during the tail end of his prime? A team with no realistic chance of contending and very likely not in the playoffs yet again?
No. 2: The Warriors are not willing to go all-in
Facing long odds to make and advance in the playoffs is one thing if you have the entire force of the team and organization pushing with all of their might in that direction. Win or lose, you gave it your all.
It’s hard for Stephen Curry to look at recent developments and conclude that the Warriors are exerting maximum effort to put a contender around him. There are reasonable explanations for why they weren’t able to add Paul George or Lauri Markkanen or another star, but they all include some manner of “we weren’t willing to give up this young player.”
Brandin Podziemski was unexpectedly good out of the gate as a rookie. Jonathan Kuminga has some real scoring upside. James Wiseman looked like a future stud at a position where the Warriors hadn’t had one in decades. The Warriors have tried to straddle the line for a half-decade, and it has resulted in no obvious player ready to go to war with Curry and Draymond.
The Milwaukee Bucks sold everything it had for Jrue Holiday and won a title. The Denver Nuggets flipped all of their draft picks for Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and came out with a title. The Boston Celtics traded picks for Derrick White and Jrue Holiday and won. Contending teams can certainly make mistakes trying to turn draft picks into win-now help, but it’s also what you do to win titles.
Stephen Curry doesn’t have much time left to play at a top 10 level. The Warriors sat on their hands last summer, they didn’t make a move at the trade deadline, and now have struck out this summer, in large part because they are not willing to let go of these young players they have drafted.
Does Curry want to waste the rest of his prime on a team of developing youngsters? It’s a hard pill to swallow for an all-time great.