Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is a lot of things: the greatest scorer of all time, a great leader, and a humble teammate. For all his skills and positive attributes though, he may not be clairvoyant. Then again, predicting the future is a tough skill to master.
Still, an interview Curry did with GQ back in 2022 resurfaced recently and one line in particular stands out four and a half years later:
"Curry, for his part, dreams of a future five years from now where [Jordan] Poole is an All-Star, [Jonathan] Kuminga is an All-Defensive player, and [James] Wiseman is an MVP candidate," the interview read.
Warriors' "two timelines" ended up being a bust
Yeah…Curry was a little bit off on that one. The Warriors won another title later that year, but Poole was traded a year and a half later after Draymond Green struck him in a practice prior to the 2022-23 season. Wiseman was traded about a year after the interview, and Kuminga was traded to the Atlanta Hawks earlier this year after never finding a permanent role with the Warriors.
Things haven’t gotten any better for the players in the trade. Poole is a shell of his former self, Wiseman isn't even in the NBA, and Kuminga remains unsigned in free agency. Curry had high hopes for them, but they’ve gone the complete opposite direction.
It’s not like what Curry said back then was completely crazy though. All three players had such great promise and while Wiseman never really broke through with Golden State, Poole was a major part of the team’s title run during the 2021-22 season. He looked like the team’s future and potentially the guy who would carry the torch whenever Curry decided to retire.
Kuminga also showed flashes of brilliant play, but he clearly always wanted a bigger role for himself while head coach Steve Kerr wanted the young forward to do what was best for the team’s style of play, rather than trying to upend it.
Sometimes things simply don’t work out as planned. The Green-Poole incident just made Poole’s future with the Warriors tough to envision, while Kuminga and Wiseman were players that owner Joe Lacob was a big fan of. He envisioned them comprising the next core of Warriors greats after the Curry years, but he miscalculated just how much longevity the two-time MVP would have.
Now the Warriors are in a weird spot where that “two timelines” approach that was envisioned is basically no more. Now the Warriors have a largely old, veteran roster and the future of the organization is in question.
It’s fascinating to go back to that point in time when those guys seemed like the future of the franchise, then reflect on just how different things are now. Imagine just how different things will be again four and a half years from now.
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