2. Trading Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut
Monta Ellis made it clear that he and Stephen Curry could not co-exist. Don Nelson knew it, Larry Riley knew it, and Stephen Curry himself probably knew it but wasn’t too vocal about it being new to the league. Warrior fans wanted to keep Ellis. The fan-favorite was one of the most exciting players to play in the Bay for years. Although everyone knew you could not win an NBA championship with a 6’3 shooting guard, they were hesitant to admit it.
The day finally struck when the team had to pick between the Davidson prodigy and the One-Man Fastbreak, and they dealt the latter. Confusing at first, Ellis was traded for injury plagued Andrew Bogut much to the disgust of Dub Nation.
The fans were so rattled; a Chris Mullin jersey retirement night went infamously bad with boos directed towards the Warriors front office. Little did the boo-birds know that this trade would change the whole dynamic of the Warriors for the better.
Golden State became instantly better when Bogut was on the floor and Ellis struggled in Milwaukee. Since then, Ellis signed a long-term deal with the Dallas Mavericks and Bogut has anchored the Warriors defense into the best in the league.
Meanwhile, the decision to pick Ellis over Curry turned out to be arguably one of the smartest in Warriors history.