“No hard feelings” between Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant over failed deadline trade attempt

Kevin Durant slammed the brakes on trade talks that would have sent the current Phoenix Sun back to Golden State to reunite with Stephen Curry. Durant said it just “didn’t feel right” and that it “wasn’t the time.”

Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr did not take that personally, speaking to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

“You need everybody to be all bought in no matter what the history you have,” Curry told ESPN about his talk with Durant. “And I respect KD. It’s all about having peace of mind and happiness. 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.

Curry said he has “no hard feelings, no resentment” at all.

The part that “neither one of us controlled” the trade talks was one of the more interesting parts of this entire scenario (and something we also saw play out in the stunning Luka Doncic trade to the Lakers). Traditionally in the NBA, if a team is going to trade a superstar, that player and his agent/manager are given a heads-up and brought into the process (at varying levels). In this case, Durant and Curry were left entirely out of the loop until things were well down the road, which is when Durant threw cold water on the idea. The Warriors pivoted and traded for the guy the Suns had wanted so badly, Jimmy Butler.

Kerr echoed Curry’s thoughts on the trade.

“I don’t blame Kevin one bit for not wanting to rerun things here,” Kerr, who coached Durant with Golden State and USA Basketball, told ESPN. “He took so much s*** for like, ‘Oh, you’re jumping on the bandwagon’ [when he signed with Golden State as a free agent in 2016]. And then he’s Finals MVP two years in a row. It’s like he still gets criticized.

“So why would he want to face all that B.S. again?”

The bond between Curry, Durant and Kerr is stronger than these rumors, particularly after the Paris Olympics.

Durant’s time in Phoenix may be fast approaching its end, but whatever happens this summer, don’t expect him to return to the Bay Area.