Monta Ellis was once the face of the Golden State Warriors. He was a dynamic scorer and a fan favorite. Before the Warriors’ dynasty years, Ellis was the offensive anchor of the team. However, everything changed in 2012 when Stephen Curry’s former teammate was traded unexpectedly.
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Ellis recently appeared on Out The Mud Podcast, where he talked about his trade and when he got the news.
With the trade deadline approaching, Ellis was in Sacramento with the Warriors for a game. When he was in his hotel, he had a conversation with the front office and was informed that they would keep him around. Ellis was confident about his future with the franchise because in the previous two seasons, he averaged 25.5 and 24.1 points while playing over 40 minutes per game.
But moments later, when he got on the team bus and was on his way to the arena, the Warriors traded him to the Bucks. “From the time I got off that phone call…going down to the bus and ride to the arena, bro, they done traded me already,” Ellis said. Shockingly, the Warriors front office didn’t involve him or his agent while making that decision.
A big reason why the Warriors traded Ellis was that they were trying to build around Stephen Curry. At the time, it was difficult to imagine Steph being a team’s centerpiece because of his ankle issues. Ellis said, “We never knew Steph was going to be this because Steph had ankle problem real real bad…We’d be in the game, he ain’t pulled up in the game because his ankle done came out.”
Curry’s ankle issues date all the way back to February of 2009 during his run at Davidson. Fast-forward to present day, over 16 years later and he’s still incredibly cautious with his ankles, routinely sporting Zamst ankle braces. This goes to show just how much of a swing the Warriors took when betting everything on the 2nd generation star.
In the end, sticking with Steph and his development over protecting a talent like Ellis paid off. Of course, it didn’t come without a ton of scrutiny at the beginning as trading Ellis seemed close to unfathomable at the time.
Stephen Curry praised Monta Ellis
When Steph was drafted by the Warriors in 2009, Ellis had already established himself as a good player. His numbers were on the rise, and he was on track to become the biggest player on the team. Steph, on the other hand, was coming fresh out of a good NCAA stint where he was the scoring champion and had a startling reputation for his shooting abilities.
However, Ellis had no interest in making Steph his backcourt partner. On Media Day, he said, “You can’t put two small guys out there and try to play the 1 and the 2 when you’ve got big 2 guards in the league. You just can’t do it.” Despite his unwillingness to play alongside Steph or even give him a chance, the superstar has nothing but praise for the former Warrior.
On All The Smoke, he said, “The way that he had that mindset, no matter what was going on with the team, give me the ball and I’m about to get y’all a bucket…He did that. He was unbelievable.” Steph said that dominating the game the way Ellis did after coming out of high school should be praised more than it is today.
