Stephen Curry’s Agent and NBA Dad, Dell Curry, Wanted him to Play for the New York Knicks

If Stephen Curry's father, Dell Curry and his agent, Jeff Austin, had their way many years ago, the 2014-15 NBA MVP would have been playing for the New York Knicks.

According to a Yahoo! Sports report, Austin wanted the Golden State Warriors, who had the seventh pick in the 2009 draft, to skip over Curry in order to let the Knicks pick him up.

Austin said, "The Knicks had [the eighth pick] and we thought in New York he'd be a great fit. Once we got to seventh, we were like, 'C'mon man, don't pick him with [Golden State].' At the time, the Warriors were not in our mind as a preferred destination."

Curry and his father were reportedly on board with that plan as well. Austin revealed that the late Kenny Williamson, who was the assistant general manager for the Memphis Grizzlies, also showed a lot of interest in Curry. However, Austin ended up declining Williamson's invitation for Curry to workout at the facility. The Grizzlies had the second pick that year and went with Hasheem Thabeet.

Austin said, "[Williamson] said he needed him down for a workout to convince the owner. 'Without a workout, I can't get him. But if he comes in and works out, I want to push him for our No. 2 pick.' We chose not to have him go to Memphis."

Yahoo! Sports! reported that Austin was also able to prevent the Oklahoma City Thunder from picking Curry. A source stated that the Thunder knew that Austin wanted Curry in New York but sent an invitation for him to work out with the team anyway. The invitation was reportedly turned down and the Thunder went with guard James Harden, this year's NBA MVP runner up.

During that draft year, Curry was considered a top-10 prospect. Even though Austin was able to stop the Grizzlies and the Thunder from drafting Curry, he was not able to stop the Warriors. Former Warriors general manager Larry Riley ended up selecting Curry right before the Knicks could.

Riley really liked Curry and did not need a workout to convince the organization that they needed a player like him. During a predraft camp interview, Riley stated that Curry was the second-best player in the draft, after Blake Griffin, who was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. Riley also compared Curry to two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash.

"I said, 'Larry, I like you a lot and respect you a lot, but don't take Steph. This is not the right place for him,' " Austin said. "We wanted him in New York."

Riley revealed, "Dell was the same way. He was almost cold."

Despite the cold shoulder Riley might have received, he started to build the team around Curry and after a few years, the Warriors went from being one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best.

In Curry's MVP speech, he thanked Riley for believing in him and giving him a chance.

He said, "He's the reason I'm here. He drafted me. He saw potential in me coming out of college, along with Don Nelson, making those decisions. You're a big reason why I'm here, taking a chance on a little scrawny kid from a mid-major school. So just wanted to say thank you for believing in me. Crazy how far we've come in six years. But thank you, man. I can't thank you enough for that decision."