Celtics Have Explored a Blockbuster Trade for Stephen Curry, Ending His Long Warriors Tenure

Boston Celtics President Brad Stevens has explored a blockbuster trade for Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, according to a report from Sports Illustrated insider John Karalis, a potential move that would end the four-time NBA champion’s 17-year run with the only franchise he has ever played for.

Curry, 38, has spent his entire career with Golden State since entering the league, but according to Karalis’s reporting, Stevens has reached out to the Warriors about a potential deal involving the veteran point guard. The reported outreach comes just months after Boston traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George and draft capital, a swap that left much of the Celtics’ fan base unimpressed at the time and left the team searching for another marquee addition to pair with star forward Jayson Tatum.

According to Karalis, no deal is close to completion, and any trade remains, in his characterization, a long shot at this stage. Even so, the report indicates that trade conversations between the two franchises have already begun in some capacity.

Golden State’s struggles this past season have fueled the speculation. The Warriors finished 10th in the Western Conference standings, a steep decline for a franchise that has been built around Curry for the better part of two decades. Forward Jimmy Butler is still working his way back from a torn ACL, and the team leaned heavily on aging veterans throughout the season, a strategy that Karalis suggested contributed directly to Golden State’s disappointing finish. Karalis described the current situation as representing “a crack in the foundation of the Curry-era Warriors,” which he characterized as the first real sign of instability of its kind since Curry first arrived in the Bay Area.

Despite Golden State’s roster struggles, Curry himself remains one of the league’s most productive guards. He averaged 26.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game last season, while shooting 46.8% from the field and 39.3% from three-point range. Curry currently earns more than $62 million annually, and the Warriors are reportedly preparing to offer him a max contract extension as soon as this August, a move that would suggest the franchise’s own stated intention is to keep him in Golden State rather than facilitate a trade.

Under the hypothetical trade structure described in the report, the Celtics would send Paul George, Sam Hauser and multiple future first-round draft picks to Golden State in exchange for Curry. For Boston, acquiring Curry would immediately give Stevens a second bona fide superstar to pair alongside Tatum, a move that could help restore the Celtics as a legitimate championship threat in the Eastern Conference following an offseason that had otherwise left some fans questioning the front office’s direction after the Jaylen Brown trade. Boston would still retain multiple future first-round picks even after including several in a potential Curry package, according to the report, giving Stevens continued flexibility to keep building around his two stars going forward.

For Golden State, the hypothetical return centers primarily on the draft capital rather than George or Hauser individually. George would give the Warriors a proven wing scorer, though his long-term fit with the roster remains uncertain given his age and recent injury history, while Hauser would add shooting depth off the bench. The more significant value for Golden State, according to the report’s framing, would come from the draft picks themselves, offering a team that finished 10th in the West a path to rebuild through the draft rather than continuing to patch its roster with aging veteran additions.

Even acknowledging the report’s framing that the star power in any such deal would clearly tilt toward Boston, Curry’s greater individual impact relative to the proposed package underscores why Golden State would need significant draft capital to make a trade worthwhile from its own competitive rebuilding perspective, even at age 38.

Curry’s situation stands in contrast to other recent star movement across the league this offseason, including LeBron James’s decision to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers and the earlier trade that sent Jaylen Brown from Boston to Philadelphia. That broader wave of roster shakeups across multiple contending franchises has continued fueling speculation about further star movement as teams reassess their championship windows heading into the 2026-27 season.

As of the report’s publication, neither the Warriors nor the Celtics have publicly confirmed any trade discussions involving Curry, and league sources cited in Karalis’s reporting characterized the idea as still far from becoming an actual completed transaction. Whether the speculation ultimately develops into a formal trade proposal is likely to depend heavily on how both Golden State’s front office and Curry himself view the franchise’s competitive outlook in the coming weeks, particularly as the Warriors weigh whether to proceed with the reported max extension offer that would signal their intention to keep Curry in the Bay Area for the remainder of his career.