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The Golden State Warriors' original Big 3 have reportedly already spoken with Kevin Durant in wake of his trade request from the Brooklyn Nets. Rumors indicate Stephen Curry, the newly-minted Finals MVP, would welcome his former teammate back to the Bay Area, too.
Speaking with reporters from the American Century Championship golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, though, Curry opted against taking the opportunity to endorse his team's prospective trade for Durant. In fact, the four-time champion expressed excitement about chasing more titles in the future with Golden State's current core intact.
“The rumor mill and all that stuff is part of the nature of the NBA and league,” Curry said, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “You take it for what it is…You know how quickly things can change, but I like where we’re at.”
The Warriors have emerged as one of the few teams consistently broached as a realistic destination for Durant by league insiders. Though there's been no concrete reporting on the team's level of interest in re-acquiring the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals MVP after he left for Brooklyn in free agency three years ago, Golden State's power brokers—from owner Joe Lacob to Draymond Green—are apparently open to the idea at the very least.
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What's less clear is if Durant would ultimately be comfortable taking the public relations hit of returning to the Warriors in the aftermath of his failed tenure with the Nets. Just as big an obstacle are league rules that prevent Brooklyn from trading for Andrew Wiggins—key in proposed Durant packages for both his booming two-way effectiveness and use as matching salary—because they've already acquired one player signed to a designated rookie extension, Ben Simmons.
Odds remain against Durant taking his talents to San Francisco, basically. Curry's confidence in the Warriors' chances going forward as currently constructed only chip away at them even further.
Lacob and upper management have dreams of replicating the San Antonio Spurs' two-decade run of contention, blending the fading primes of Curry, Green and Klay Thompson with the rise of gifted young players like Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and James Wiseman. The Spurs' sustained success sticks out like a sore thumb for a reason. It's truly unprecedented in league history.
But a fourth title in eight seasons, its first without Durant since 2015, certainly makes Golden State's chances of pulling it off seem more realistic. Trading for Durant would no doubt widen the Warriors' championship window for the next couple years, but shut it for who knows how long once age really catches up to their thirtysomething stars.
Curry, it seems, understands that dynamic. It's safe to say Lacob does, too.
