Modern NBA is filled with countless what-if moments. What if Shaq and Kobe never broke up? What if LeBron James and Dwyane Wade joined the Chicago Bulls in 2010, and what if Kevin Durant didn’t join the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry in the summer of 2016? But it looks like one of the biggest ever what-if moments of the last decade was a lot closer to being completed than previously imagined.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo has firmly established himself as one of the best players in the world in the last two NBA seasons. If not for an injury to Khris Middleton, we could have seen a Warriors vs Bucks NBA Finals.
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His opponent would have been Stephen Curry. Curry also has established himself as the best point guard of the past decade and a top five point guard of all time. But according to a recent report, they both could have been on the same team, if not for the Bucks’ medical staff.
When Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly teamed up
Steph Curry was the seventh overall pick for the Warriors in the 2009 NBA Draft. He had a great start to his young career before ankle injuries started bugging him. In 2012, the Warriors traded for Andrew Bogut with less than 48 hours remaining before the transfer deadline.
But at the last moment, the centerpiece of the trade was not the young Curry but the Warriors‘ leading scorer, Monta Ellis. The Milwaukee Bucks wanted Steph in return, but the Bucks’ medical staff held up the deal.
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Bucks then drafted Giannis in the 2013 NBA Draft as the fifteenth overall pick. Giannis has firmly established himself as one of the best players of the present time and the future.
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A duo of Steph and Giannis could have been as dominant as one of Shaq and Kobe. They could have easily formed a dynasty in the Eastern Conference. This will surely go down as one of the biggest what-ifs in modern NBA.