Bucks Owner Talks About The Rumored Steph Curry For Andrew Bogut Trade From 2012

There was a time where the Golden State Warriors nearly dealt Steph Curry to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut at the trade deadline of the 2011-2012 season. While the actual trade involved Monta Ellis going to the Bucks in exchange for the center, rumors have circulated for years that Curry was the one who was originally expected to be moved.

In 2016, then-San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami debunked the persistent rumor wouldn’t even have worked if the trade involved Curry.

‘The money in the trade wouldn’t have worked if it was Curry (on his rookie deal) instead of Ellis (making $11M that season).

Bogut was making $12M that season and was owed $13M and $14M the next two. The impetus for Milwaukee was to move Bogut while he retained value before he came close to free agency.

To do the deal the Warriors had to include a salary that was close to Bogut’s but that also had value to Milwaukee.

That pretty much had to be Ellis.’

On Tuesday, in a conversation with The Athletic’s Frank Isola about the Warriors as a model NBA franchise, Bucks owner Marc Lasry took a moment to mention the trade, and how the Warriors would not be what they are today had Curry been the one who was traded:

“I don’t know if they can be light years ahead if they traded Steph Curry to the Bucks for Andrew Bogut,” Lasry says of a proposed trade before he purchased the Bucks, which has been reported as both fact and urban legend. “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.”

No matter how true and legitimate that deal was, or even how close it was to getting done, it leaves many to wonder just what could have been had if Steph went to the Bucks.