Steph Curry and Draymond Green have long been teammates for the Golden State Warriors. While Curry is the Warriors’ main guy in offense, Green is the go-to guy in defense and playmaking. Together, both players, along with Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and Kevin Durant, led Golden State to four championships in six finals appearances in the past eight seasons.
But what if Steph Curry and Draymond Green never became teammates? Would Curry still achieve greatness?
Based on how Curry fared without Green, there could be a chance Curry would remain among the NBA’s greats. In the 58 games that Curry played but Green missed, he won 37 of them for a 63.8 percent success rate.
The three-point specialist that he is, Curry would still be effective from 24 feet out, averaging close to 40% in the 58 games. He averaged 47.0% in total from the field and an impressive 94.0% from the free-throw line in games without Green.
He also averaged 25.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.2 blocks a game in his games sans Green.
A potential concern for Curry were his turnovers, averaging 3.4 errors a game. With the absence of Green, who plays more of a facilitator than a solid offensive player, Curry might really need to control his errors.
Would Curry and the Warriors still make it to the NBA Playoffs without Draymond Green?
Save for his turnovers, Steph Curry would still put up superstar-worthy numbers even without Draymond Green. His all-time record without Green is still impressive enough for the Warriors to make it to the NBA Playoffs if that is the sole basis.
As an example, adjusting to 82 games and based on how the 2023 playoffs really went, the Warriors would have had a higher seed in the West with Curry’s record sans Green.
Assuming the winning rate remains almost the same 24 games later, the team would be 52-30, enough to win the second seed just below the 53-29 Denver Nuggets.
Curry’s all-time record without Green adjusted to 82 games would have meant an earlier 2023 playoff showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers than actually locking horns in the league quarterfinals.
The Warriors would have probably faced the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals assuming both teams made that far. This just goes to show that Steph Curry really changed the fortunes of the Warriors for the better.