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Stephen Curry Is The Dominant Reason Why Giannis Antetokounmpo Might Consider Joining The Warriors

After successfully signing former MVP Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016, the Golden State Warriors are looking to take their chances on landing another MVP-caliber player in the nearest future. And as we are all aware of, the name of 2019 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo floats around as the most preferred free-agency target.

While Antetokounmpo has been the subject of these rumors for few months, he’s yet to show any signs of strong evidence to leave the Milwaukee Bucks who currently own the best record in the league. Giannis is still under-contact through the 2020-21 NBA season, and the Bucks are in the prime position to offer him a supermax contract extension in the upcoming off-season.

But if ever Giannis takes a different direction, a latest report by The Athletic suggests that the Greek Freak might consider the Warriors because of Stephen Curry, who was said to be the dominant reason of any Giannis deal.

“If Giannis hits the market next summer, he will be 26. Curry — a friendly acquaintance, considered by those in the know as the dominant reason Giannis’ eyes would even tilt in the Warriors’ direction — will be 33. Thompson, currently in the late stages of his ACL rehab, and Green, showing early signs of a physical decline, will both be 31.”

 

The report does make a lot of sense. After all, Giannis and Steph have been linked together because of their friendship and evident on-court chemistry. Interestingly, Giannis also named Steph as one of his favorites in the NBA during an Instagram live last March.

Giannis was asked to name his favorite NBA players and named Steph, TWICE pic.twitter.com/g4v3prAnv8

— Chris Montano (@gswchris) March 27, 2020

Any big free agent signing often involves recruitment. When the Warriors lured Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Draymond Green played a huge part during the process, not least by making the infamous phone call to Durant after their Game 7 loss in the 2016 NBA Finals. Could Curry play a similar role in recruiting Giannis? It isn’t far-fetched to think about.