Steve Kerr reflects on move that would’ve made Stephen Curry a Sun

Long before Stephen Curry’s No. 30 Warriors jersey became a favorite of children world-wide, Steve Kerr — then the Suns’ general manager — envisioned kids throughout the Phoenix area donning No. 30 Suns jerseys.

“He just had something about him coming out of college, and you knew that — nobody knew he was going to be an MVP, but you could tell people would connect with him because he looks like you or me,” Kerr said before Golden State’s game Thursday night against Minnesota at Oracle Arena. “He’s just a normal looking guy, and yet he’s got this electric skill and amazing personality. So, put all that stuff together, and he’s the face of the franchise.”

Kerr’s interest in bringing Curry to Phoenix has been well-chronicled. In 2009, before Curry went to the Warriors No. 7 overall in the draft, Kerr had been in discussions with Golden State’s front office about potentially bringing Curry to the Suns for the team’s first-round pick — No. 14 overall — and Amare Stoudemire, then a four-time All-Star.

The Warriors didn’t make the move, in part because of Stoudemire’s nagging knee injuries. And you know the rest: Curry blossomed into a two-time MVP, guiding Golden State to the top of the NBA hierarchy. Meanwhile, the Suns, who took Earl Clark with the No. 14 pick, haven’t reached the playoffs since their 2010 Western Conference finals appearance.

“What was exciting was that, by the time I got here, he was already an All-Star,” Kerr, who became the Warriors’ head coach before the 2014-15 season, said of Curry. “He had really developed over the previous couple of seasons. He had stayed healthy, so you could see he was on his way. He was entering his prime.

“As a coach and as an observer of the NBA, somebody who played in the NBA a long time, I kind of knew that, if you want to be anybody good, you’ve got to have somebody to build around. I knew before I even spent much time with him, Steph was a cornerstone player, but also a foundational human being for a franchise. I knew what I was getting, yet he still exceeded all expectations.”