Stephen Curry's career would have had a huge impact if Kevin Durant had never joined the Warriors.
Stephen Curry is considered one of the greatest players in NBA history, but there's no denying that Kevin Durant had a huge impact on his career after joining the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
The Warriors lost to the Sacramento Kings in the NBA playoffs, which made Curry's resume without Durant as a teammate not look as stellar as someone considered a top-10 player of all time.
To put it bluntly, Curry led the team and did not enter the playoffs, and his historical status has dropped, and if Durant does not go to the Warriors, Curry will have to discount it.
If you don't believe it, let's look at Curry's entire career playoff situation:
2009-10 NBA season: Did not make the playoffs
2010-11 NBA season: Did not make the playoffs
2011-12 NBA season: Did not make the playoffs
2012-13 NBA season: Warriors exit in the Western Conference Finals (2-4 loss to Spurs)
2013-14 NBA season: Warriors out of the first round (3-4 loss to Clippers)
2014-15 NBA season: Warriors win championships
2015-16 NBA season: Warriors out of the Finals (3-4 loss to Cavaliers)
2019-20 NBA season: Did not make the playoffs
2020-21 NBA season: Did not make the playoffs
2021-22 NBA season: Warriors win championship
2022-23 NBA season: Warriors go out in the Western Conference Finals (2-4 loss to Lakers)
2023-24 NBA season: Did not make the playoffs
While winning two championships is very impressive, Curry's critics have also noted that he has benefited from injuries to rival players in those two championship games.
For example, in 2015, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Kevin Love was completely sidelined in the Finals, and Kyrie Irving played only one game in that series.
Then, in 2022, when the Warriors faced the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, the latter was missing Jamal Murray and Michael Porter. Just a year later, when the two were back to health, the Nuggets won the championship.
You can find similar situations for many championship games, so I'm not going to bash Curry for those.
In addition, he was injured for much of the 2011-12 and 2019-20 seasons, so it would be unfair to blame him on the Warriors' problems missing the playoffs in those seasons.
Even with all that in mind, I think it's fair to say that if that's his resume, Curry wouldn't be considered a top-10 player of all time. Two wins is good, but not enough to put him in the top 10.
One could argue that in the three seasons they've been teammates, Curry could have won a championship without Durant, but I doubt that. Without Durant, I don't think LeBron James and the Cavaliers would have lost to the Warriors in the Finals in 2017 and 2018.
Curry, who has two championships, a Finals MVP and two regular season MVPs, could be considered one of the 20 best players of all time. He will still have a great legacy as the greatest goalscorer of all time and a game-changer, but not as much as he is today.
On the other hand, the same can be said about Durant, and often so. While Curry at least won a championship when they weren't teammates, Durant still hasn't been able to do that. For the 35-year-old, time is slipping by.
At this point, it's hard to see Durant win another championship. He's already assembled a superteam with players like Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, but they don't look like real championship contenders.
If Durant does fail to win a championship after leaving the Golden State Warriors, it will always be a huge blow to him.
Truth be told, Durant still needs to prove that he can lead the team to a championship without Curry, and now Curry seems to be proving that he can lead the team to a championship without Durant.