The NBA offseason has been a Hollywood movie. Whether it was Jaylen Brown being traded to an in-division rival, the Kawhi Leonard trade being held up, Giannis Antetokounmpo finally being dealt, or the Decision 2.0, there’s been no shortage of drama.
LeBron James joining Jaylen Brown in Philadelphia has created a snowball effect that many fans believe could see Stephen Curry ask out of Golden State. The Warriors' whole offseason hinged on whether they could land the ‘King’ and unite him with the ‘Chef’. And now, in what many believe could be the final years of Curry’s prime, the Warriors have a very bare roster with minimal flexibility and a dry free agent pool.
With speculation beginning to swirl around Curry’s future, Raptors fans are salivating at the thought of having a true elite point guard, something the team hasn’t had since Kyle Lowry. No disrespect to Immanuel Quickley, but his continued health issues and up-and-down play have left Raptors fans begging for a more established solution at the guard spot.
But Steph Curry isn’t that because he won’t be going anywhere.
The Raptors are in no place to trade for Stephen Curry
There are several reasons any team, but specifically the Raptors, will not be getting Steph Curry, and the main one is value.
Given what Toronto already gave up for Kawhi Leonard, the asset pool is starting to get dry, and through his entire time with the Raptors, Bobby Webster has never been the type to fully empty the clip.
I get that, at his age, Curry is likely to start trending downward and is on a one-year contract, but at the end of the day he’s still Steph Curry. At 38, he averaged 26.6 points per game while shooting 39.3 percent from three on 11.3 attempts per game. He’s still definitively a top-five point guard in the NBA and still one of, if not the league's, best shooters. On top of all that, he is by far the Warriors' greatest player in franchise history and an icon to the sport, so trying to sell fans on trading him would take an unreal return.
The Raptors can’t offer the type of return other potential suitors could if Curry was made available. Sure, they could offer Ja’Kobe Walter, Collin Murray-Boyles, IQ, Jamal Shead, RJ Barrett and picks, but then what? It’s going to be Curry, Kawhi, Scottie Barnes, and minimum-contract players? No thanks.
Do I think there’s any world where Steph Curry gets traded and doesn’t end his career a member of the Golden State Warriors? I’m 97 percent sure that doesn’t happen. What I am 100 percent certain about is Curry won’t be donning the same Raptors uniform his father did. It’s a cool idea, and with his wife Ayesha being a Toronto native and Curry spending parts of his childhood in the Six, it wouldn’t be shocking to hear him have interest in coming to the city.
But the Raptors still have bigger problems, starting with ensuring the Kawhi Leonard deal goes through. Whether Steph Curry becomes available or not, Toronto is in no position to make a play for another superstar this offseason.
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