No trade clauses are extremely rare in the NBA. Only Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki possess one.
Not even Steph Curry and Blake Griffin, faces of their franchises, could get no-trade protection when they signed their max contracts last summer.
On Monday, not having the no-trade clause came back to bite Griffin as the Clippers stunned the basketball world by trading the five-time All-Star to Detroit.
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So if Griffin can be traded, should Curry be worried?
"We don't need the Blake example to cement the fact that, as players, there's a different narrative around moves players make compared to what's in the best interest of teams when they make trades. It's always going to be a part of the game to a certain extent, but I think players are kind of understanding and taking advantage of whatever leverage they have. But nothing is guaranteed in this business," Curry told The Athletic in Utah on Tuesday.
Curry, as a two-time MVP and two-time champion, could have been in a position to demand a no-trade clause when he was negotiating his five-year, $201 million contract on July 1. But he didn't. Why not?
“Just a negotiation situation. Obviously, it'd be nice to have one, but it wasn't in the cards. For me, I don't say I regret not getting one," Curry told The Athletic.
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With teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green set to hit the free agent market in the coming years, Curry believes their situations played into his contract talks.
“They try to set a precedent that nobody gets one around here. But you would hope situations that happened with Blake don't happen with this team,” Curry said.
