The New York Knicks have made enough blunders to be mocked for over the years, the media doesn’t need to alter history to make things even worse.
Every time Steph Curry visits Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and their fans are haunted by the feeling of what could have been. And Thursday night, NBA on TNT play-by-play voice Brian Anderson needled that feeling during the Golden State Warriors’ latest trip to New York.
“Remember the draft in ’09…Knicks passed him up.”
No, don’t remember that. pic.twitter.com/N9UKajvFo8
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 1, 2024
“Stephen Curry has had some memories here,” Anderson said late in the fourth quarter of Golden State’s win over the Knicks. “Remember the draft in ’09? Shaking hands with David Stern, Knicks passed him up. And then he had his breakout game.”
Knicks fans fault the franchise for a lot of things. Luckily, passing on Steph Curry in the draft isn’t one of them, because it never happened. They passed on Donovan Mitchell for Frank Ntilikina and they passed on a cast of All-Star talent for Kevin Knox. But if Curry was available with the Knicks on the clock in 2009, they were going to take him.
The Knicks were heavily linked to Curry ahead of the 2009 NBA Draft. Their head coach at the time, Mike D’Antoni desperately wanted Curry and several mocks had the Knicks landing him. Curry has even admitted he expected to be a Knick on draft night back in 2009. But unfortunately for the Knicks, seven comes before eight. And with the Golden State Warriors sitting one pick ahead of New York, they drafted him.
Four NBA championships for Golden State later, the Knicks are left dreaming about what could have been. But at least they don’t have to live with the regret of passing on Curry, because they never had the chance to draft him.
