NBA team 'got rid of' medical staff after fumbling Steph Curry trade that would have changed history
An NBA team sensationally rejected the Golden State Warriors' proposed trade involving Steph Curry after being concerned by one key detail.
Curry has spent his whole legendary career with the Warriors after being selected as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
He has inspired them to four NBA championships, including a two-peat between 2016 and 2018 - leading one of the greatest dynasties in modern NBA history.
But the course of their history could have altered significantly had the 37-year-old been traded in 2012.
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The Warriors included Curry in a trade offer to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut, who eventually joined the California-based side.
But the Bucks rejected the trade due to the player's history with bad ankles.
Marc Lasry, who was the co-owner of the Bucks from 2014 to 2023, hailed the Warriors as a model franchise within the NBA before commenting on Joe Lacob's 'light years' claim.
In 2016, Lacob, the principal owner of the Warriors, said that the organisation was 'light years ahead' of the other 29 teams in the league.
Lasry laughed off Lacob's comment as he referenced the Curry trade.
"I don’t know if they can be light years ahead if they traded Steph Curry to the Bucks for Andrew Bogut," he joked.
"That was the deal. But the Bucks’ medical staff didn’t think Steph’s ankle would hold up. That killed the deal. So, I don’t know if that’s being light years. It’s luck. And that’s fine."
A couple of years after the reported Curry trade, Lasry acquired the Bucks and subsequently 'got rid of that medical staff'.
He added: "I think we got rid of that medical staff when we bought the team."
Since the Curry trade proposal, the Bucks have won just one NBA championship, having triumphed in the 2021 season.
Whereas the Warriors have flourished with having Curry on their roster, with the star point guard leading them to four NBA titles.
As for Bogut, he eventually joined the Warriors and enjoyed a four-year spell with the franchise before returning for another season in the final year of his career.
On being told the Bucks could have traded him for Curry instead of Monta Ellis, Bogut said: "It was with some people who did all the medical advisory stuff before free agency or trades - you know, whenever you bring in a guy. It was that team of people.
"They were open about it with me. I had a good relationship with them, so they just blatantly told me: 'The other option was Steph and his bad ankle. We decided to go with Monta'. So I was like, 'Alright'."
Topics: NBA, Basketball, Steph Curry
Nasir Jabbar