What if the Golden State Warriors had traded Curry to the Bucks?

Since being drafted ninth overall in 2009, Steph Curry has revolutionized the NBA with his elite shooting. That skill has made him almost unguardable and led to his winning two league MVPs and four championships, all with the Golden State Warriors. Despite that, the Warriors nearly traded Curry away early in his career, not once, but twice. Yikes.

The first time was when they nearly moved Curry to the Phoenix Suns on draft night. That would’ve netted the Golden State Warriors former all-star Amare Stoudemire, but they wisely backed out of that deal. Of course, they nearly traded him again a couple of years later, this time to the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Warriors wanted Andrew Bogut and weren’t convinced that their small backcourt of Monta Ellis and Curry could work, so they planned on trading Curry in the deal to land Bogut. At the last minute, however, the Warriors had a change of heart and included Ellis in the deal.

The Golden State Warriors’ decision changed the NBA landscape in a major way.

It goes without saying that a Golden State Warriors team built around the likes of Ellis wouldn’t have gone to six NBA Finals and won four championships, and they likely wouldn’t have appealed to Kevin Durant either. Durant only joined the Warriors after the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to them in Game 7 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

Had Curry been traded to the Bucks, the Thunder probably would’ve won a title in 2016 and Durant might’ve stayed in Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook too. The same could be said for the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets. Kawhi Leonard apparently left San Antonio in part because of his concerns about their lack of star power, and he probably wouldn’t have forced his way out of town had Durant not joined the Warriors.

The Spurs won 67 games in the 2015-16 season, only to watch a team that had won 73 games sign Durant. Then, Curry, Durant, and the Warriors swept a 61-win Spurs team in the West Finals the following year. Without Curry, the Spurs could have won the championship in 2017 and the Rockets in 2018.

Then again, the Cleveland Cavaliers probably would have won more championships considering they were the Warriors’ opponents in four of their six NBA Finals appearances. The Cavs went 1-3 against the Curry-led Warriors, and that certainly contributed to LeBron James’s leaving for the L.A. Lakers.

Had they won two or three championships, James might still be playing in Cleveland and have four or five titles.

How did the trade affect the Bucks?

While things have ultimately worked out for Milwaukee, they’re probably still kicking themselves after agreeing to take back Ellis instead of Curry. Ellis only played a season and a half with the team before signing with Dallas. Had it been Curry, the Bucks might’ve become “Warriors East” or maybe the Bucks wouldn’t have been able to build around Curry the same way that the Warriors have.

It’s hard to say whether the Bucks would’ve been able to select Khris Middleton, 39th overall in 2012, or Giannis Antetokounmpo, 15th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, or if they’d develop the same way. There’s also the possibility that Curry would have left Milwaukee the first chance he got.

There are plenty of what-ifs in this scenario, but fortunately, the Bucks won a championship in 2021, making it easier to forget missing out on an all-time great player. In fact, they have one of their own in Antetokounmpo, and he could very well lead them to more titles before it’s all said and done. However, he may have to go through Curry and the Warriors first.