Those miscarriage deals that almost changed the league 2.0

Curry was almost traded to the Sun

Judging from Curry's current legendary achievements, no one should ignore his potential. But in the early days, many people should have underestimated his value. Curry almost missed the Warriors, and naturally there would be no great moments that would come later.

The first transaction rumors involving Curry happened in the 2009 NBA Draft. Curry was selected by the Warriors at the seventh pick, ranking between Johnny Flynn and Jordan Hill, and the Suns were working hard to trade upwards to pick him.

Cole, who was then the general manager of the Suns, recalled this experience many years later. He admitted that they had negotiated a deal almost on the night of the draft to switch Curry to the Suns:

"I served in the Suns from 2007 to 2010. We noticed Curry and saw the shadow of Nash in him. We have witnessed how Nash became a two-time MVP. At that time, many people in the league had doubts about Curry's size, defense and athleticism, but what we saw was his special attributes. At that time, he really felt that he might become another Nash."

"We tried to trade upward the night before the draft, and it was basically agreed. Although it had not been formally confirmed, we were talking on the whole process. We all thought that the deal had been settled and Curry would become a member of the Suns. When he was in When the seventh pick was not selected, our team was celebrating. But in the end, the Warriors temporarily canceled the deal and decided to keep him by themselves. "

For Kerr, this almost intersection with Curry also became one of the key reasons for his future takeover of the Warriors:

"When I later became the Warriors coach, that was one of the reasons I was most looking forward to. I wanted to coach Curry."

As for the transaction content that night, ESPN revealed details in a later draft review. The Warriors originally intended to package Curry, Brandon Wright, Marco Belinelli, Andris Biderlings, and star power forward Stoudemire, who was at the peak at the time from the Suns Trading Road. If this deal comes true, not only will Curry's career be completely rewritten, but the Warriors' glory will naturally be difficult to appear.

Duncan is only one step away from the Magic

In the summer of 2000, the Magic had lost its previous boss, O'Neal for four years. Later, Hardaway also left the team due to repeated injuries. He thought the Magic would fall into a moment of destruction, but Rivers rescued the team in danger. The Magic almost made it to the playoffs without star players in the whole team, and Rivers was also selected as the best coach for his contributions in coaching.

With the best coach at that time, the Magic, who held a huge salary space, began to recruit soldiers and found Grant Hill, who was almost the best small forward at the time, and the talent scorer McGrady, and then the Magic handed the olive branch to Duncan of the Spurs.

Magic opened a six-year contract in one breath, and Duncan seemed to have made up his mind to leave the Spurs. Once this signing was completed, Magic could basically see the glorious moments of the next ten years. But all this did not happen. After that summer, Duncan stayed with the Spurs and helped the Spurs win another four championships in his career.

Hill suffered a devastating injury in the following season, while McGrady won two consecutive scoring champions in the Magic, and once became the strongest scoring weapon in the league.

According to rumors, one of the important reasons why the Magic and Spurs broke the trade was probably because the Magic rejected Duncan's request to take his family on the team's plane, which also gave the seemingly natural thing, and finally gave the Spurs a room to redeem, and then successfully kept the greatest player in their team's history and continued to complete their great career with the Spurs.

Recalling the rumors of this deal, Grant Hill still feels regretful. If the Magic had not rejected Duncan's request at that time, the NBA structure would have been enough to change, and the Spurs, who won the four-time championship, would naturally no longer exist.

Paul joins forces with Kobe

to achieve a false abortion. Perhaps this transaction has been officially announced but has been forced to stop by the official.

As early as 2011, the NBA temporarily took over the New Orleans Hornets, a team that has not been able to build a strong lineup around Paul for many years, and when his contract expired, it led to the team's willingness to trade. As one of the top point guards in the league, the entire NBA knows that the Hornets are eager to find a way out.

The league was experiencing a shrinking season at that time, and the suspension had just ended. Just when everyone thought it would be a win-win deal, a business farce was quietly staged.

In December 2011, the transaction was officially announced:

Paul will go to the Lakers in a three-party transaction involving the Rockets, and the Lakers will send Gasol and Odom as core chips.

However, just hours after the transaction was released, then NBA president Stern forcibly rejected the deal for "basketball reasons." As for what this "basketball reason" is, the outside world has never been explained, and the real reason behind this has become a mystery with Stern's death in 2020.

After the deal was stopped, the Hornets traded Paul to the Clippers in the same city as the Lakers for Eric Gordon, Chris Carman, Amino, and a 10th pick to pick Austin Rivers.

Now, among the players involved in this deal, only Paul and Gordon are still in the league.. This deal also made the three giants of James + Irving + Love, and then won the first championship in team history for the Cavaliers.

If Clay was traded that year, the Warriors would naturally lose the opportunity to build the Splash Brothers, and naturally they might not be able to create the glorious moments that would later be. Love, the insider of the space, may have many unexpected results for the three-point craze that was later launched in the Bay Area. Of course, this can only be something that can be imagined in the end.