Chris Paul Confirms He Rejected 2011 Warriors Trade Involving Steph Curry, Klay

Trading Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for anyone—even an all-time great point guard like Chris Paul—seems downright irresponsible now, but the Golden State Warriors almost did so in 2011.

During an interview with UNINTERRUPTED, Paul, who was on the New Orleans Hornets at the time, confirmed he told the Warriors he would not sign an extension with them if they pulled the trigger on the trade:

The 10-time All-Star said at the time he didn't want to go out West since he was born and raised on the East Coast.

His comments come on the heels of a revelatory detail in Ethan Strauss' book The Victory Machine (h/t Dan Feldman of NBC Sports) which said the Warriors nearly traded Curry and Thompson to the Hornets for Paul before the latter essentially told Golden State it was not worth it on the team's end since he would leave.

This is one of the biggest "what ifs" in recent NBA history, as Curry and Thompson stayed together in Golden State and became arguably the best shooting backcourt in league history and created the foundation for the team that made the last five NBA Finals, winning three of them.

However, the Warriors went to the playoffs just once from the 1994-95 season through the 2011-12 campaign. There were question marks about Curry's health, and Thompson had not developed into the two-way superstar he would eventually become.

That they wanted an established star like Paul as they attempted to break out of their prolonged slump isn't that surprising looking back on things, although CP3's decision to shut it down worked out nicely for the franchise.

Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green were the three primary pieces for the 2015 champions and the 2015-16 team that won an NBA record 73 regular-season games. The Warriors then added Kevin Durant and became even more unstoppable as they played their way onto the shortlist of the best teams in history.

Paul is a future Hall of Famer himself who went through a number of head-to-head postseason showdowns with those Warriors teams as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets.

He may not have that elusive championship even if he was traded to the Warriors, as it is difficult to envision Golden State enjoying so much success without the Curry and Thompson tandem.

Still, it is an intriguing alternate history for NBA fans to think about with the current season suspended.