Igan telling a story of pursuing Steph as early as 2009, when he was still the GM of the Phoenix Suns. When Steph fell to seventh in the draft that year, the Suns were enamored with the thought of trading for him and Kerr even admitted to believing that there was a deal in place before things ultimately fell through.
“We were looking at Steph and seeing Steve Nash,” said Kerr. “They were so alike in so many ways… and so we tried to trade for him and we thought we had a deal, the night before the draft. It wasn’t completed but it was a discussion over the phone and we thought it was done. So when he fell to seventh, our draft room erupted because we thought the deal was in place and Steph was going to be a Phoenix Sun.”
Even way back in 2009, Steve Kerr knew that Steph was going to be special. Of course, nobody had an idea of just how good Curry would become but a comp to Steve Nash was a pretty big deal back then. Sadly, while the Suns never got to try the Steve Nash/Stephen Curry partnership, the Warriors put Steph in the best situation possible to win. In fact, had things played out differently that night, who knows how his career might have played out?
The further we move away from the 2009 draft, the crazier it seems that Steph landed where he did. Due to concerns about size, durability, and defense on the perimeter, Steph was a controversial lottery pick and he fell to 7th behind names like Hasheem Thabeet, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, and Jonny Flynn. At the time, Curry had no idea which team would pick him up but he would later reveal that the Knicks were at the top of his list.
“I absolutely was wanting to go to the Knicks,” Curry said. “Had a lot of conversations with the GM of New York at the time who said if I was on the board, they’d picked me. So there’s a lot of hype because being in New York, I thought I was going to be a New York Knick.”
It’s no secret that Curry wanted to be in New York, and he nearly got his wish. Leading up to the draft, he didn’t even do a workout for the team and refused to visit with the scouts. It was later revealed that the Warriors’ top veteran star at the time, Monta Ellis, wanted no part of sharing the court with Curry. Considering all of this, it’s no wonder why the Warriors considered a deal with the Suns, and they probably had several other offers on the table. But despite the warning signs, the team went ahead and picked up the sharpshooting guard and made him a centerpiece of the future.
The results have been glorious for the franchise, which is now famed as the greatest NBA dynasty in modern history. Everything from the new arena to the four championships and the iconic legacy traces back to no. 30 and the moment that the Warriors drafted him in 2009.