In 2011, did the Warriors try to trade Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Chris Paul?
On Friday morning, Larry Riley -- who was Golden State's general manager at that time -- strongly refuted that report.
“First off, that’s false. That never took place,” Riley said on 95.7 The Game. “And therefore, I think everyone learned something. When you -- I had to tell my mother this because she grew up in the days of Walter Cronkite -- when you see something on TV or you read it in the newspaper, it’s not necessarily true.”
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“And I never had a conversation with anybody about packaging our two guards to do something else. Steph Curry came to the Warriors and he won himself over as a Warrior for life -- if he wanted to be -- at the second half of his rookie season. He established the fact -- this is our point guard for the next 10 years.
“And while there was a lot of discussion about the possibilities of trading him, it was never a reality. And we never had a discussion about trading Klay Thompson and Steph Curry for anybody else.
“And it would be very interesting because the author of this piece, without doubt, talked to somebody who gave him some information. So, it would be a little bit interesting to track that, but I can tell you right now, that never happened.
“Now, I suppose it might have happened after I left and there could have been a discussion with Bob Myers, but you’re telling me this was 2011? And that is not the case then.”
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In his new book "The Victory Machine," Ethan Strauss of The Athletic writes:
The deal was very close to completion. (Bob) Myers made the offer and Hornets GM Dell Demps was receptive. The catch was Chris Paul, who wanted out of New Orleans but had no intention of playing for the woebegone Warriors.
Paul told the Warriors they could do this trade, but he wouldn’t be staying when his contract was up at season’s end. With that, the Hornets lost out on the greatest backcourt of all time.
One important note to keep in mind -- Myers was the Warriors' assistant general manager at the time. Was he given the authority over Riley to make the offer?
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That sounds odd.
Let's move on, shall we?