Steph Curry Gets Honest on Kevin Durant Denying Suns-Warriors Trade

The Phoenix Suns had a deal to send Kevin Durant back to the Golden State Warriors before the player himself denied it.

Feb 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) talk during the second half at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images | John Hefti-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns had a deal in place to send Kevin Durant back to the Golden State Warriors ahead of the league's trade deadline last week, though Durant nixed the deal after wanting to remain with Phoenix through the end of the season.

The move would have re-united Durant with Steph Curry, who shared the court with Durant previously in his career, winning two NBA Finals together before Durant eventually departed for the Brooklyn Nets.

Curry recently opened up on Durant denying the recent deal to ESPN and said he has no hard feelings on what could have been:

"You need everybody to be all bought in no matter what the history you have. And I respect KD. It's all about having peace of mind and happiness," said Curry.

"Neither one of us controlled that [trade] situation. It's just you want to make sure somebody wants to be somewhere. Other than that, I'm not trying to convince anybody to be somewhere they don't want to be."

Both the Suns and Warriors were after Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler - though Bradley Beal's no-trade clause prevented a Butler-Durant-Devin Booker trio from happening. The Suns would have landed Butler in the aforementioend Durant-to-Warriors move before it was shot down.

Butler, instead, finds himself in Golden State.

Things panned out probably how they should have, according to Warriors coach Steve Kerr:

"I think it all worked out as it probably was supposed to," Kerr said.

"For Jimmy, it's a fresh start. For us, it's a different vibe, different look. Kevin didn't feel [a reunion], so it wouldn't have been healthy for him to come here or for us if he didn't want to be here.

"Obviously, we would've been thrilled with either one of them. But I think it all worked out as it was supposed to."

Durant previously said he's excited to see how the Suns can attack the second half of the schedule - you can read more about that here.