Stephen Curry revisits 2009 nixed draft-night trade with Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns

Two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry got a kick out of being asked to recall draft night in 2009 when Golden State chose him seventh overall.

“There was a lot in that question,” Curry laughed during Wednesday’s media availability heading into Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Then Curry addressed the multiple layers to the question with an answer that once again reminds Phoenix what it could’ve had.

"When I got drafted, I thought I was going to New York, and didn't really have Golden State on the radar at all,” Curry said. “And then there was a lot of drama my rookie year with the potential Phoenix trade at draft night and me and Monta (Ellis) as a small backcourt, can we play together, and obviously what his answer was at the time.”

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The Republic reported back in 2016 the Suns thought they’d worked out a deal for Golden State’s 7th pick and players in exchange for Amar’e Stoudemire.

Minnesota used the fifth and sixth picks in the draft to take point guards Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. With Curry still available, the Warriors drafted the scoring machine out of Davidson – and nixed their deal with the Suns.

"We told Minnesota that Steph didn’t want to go there,” said Curry’s dad, former NBA player Dell Curry, in an interview with The Republic back in 2016.

“We had no idea that they had agreed to a trade. Obviously, they couldn’t put that out. I remember (then-Suns general manager) Steve Kerr calling me (the next morning) and saying, ‘Don’t go to the press conference. We have a trade that they reneged on.’ I’m like, ‘That’s between you guys. We’re going wherever they tell us. We can’t not go.’"

Kerr later became Golden State's head coach and won three NBA titles (2015, 2017, 2018) with Curry as the centerpiece.

The Suns viewed Curry as the next Steve Nash, their two-time NBA MVP who was still with the team.

Thinking their deal with Golden State was in the bag, the Suns passed on point Jrue Holiday with the 14th overall pick and took big Earl Clark out of Louisville.

Philadelphia later used the 17th overall pick to take Holiday out of UCLA.

The Suns made the conference finals that 2009-10 season, but didn’t return to the playoffs again until the 2020-21 season.

They lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 finals while the Warriors missed the playoffs for a second straight season after five straight trips to the finals.

Giannis Antetokounmpo earned finals MVP, but Holiday made perhaps the biggest play of the series.

With Phoenix looking to take the lead late in Game 5 at home, Holiday stole the ball from Devin Booker and found Antetokounmpo for the lob dunk that put Milwaukee ahead, 122-119, with 13.5 seconds left in the game.

The Bucks won Game 5 and finished off Phoenix in Game 6 in Milwaukee.

On a mission to return to the finals and win it all this time, Phoenix ran away with the NBA’s best record of 64-18 in setting a franchise record for victories in a regular season. The Suns earned the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs, but lost to Dallas in the conference semifinals in seven games.

The third-seeded Warriors then took down the fourth-seeded Mavericks in five to reach the finals for the sixth time in eight years with Curry winning the Western Conference finals MVP award.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Stephen Curry revisits nixed Warriors-Suns 2009 draft trade 'drama'