A key member of the Golden State Warriors in the pre-dynasty years is taking some heat online for a comment he made about what could have been.
Monta Ellis was a standout player for Golden State in the years the team started to assemble the core of players that went on to win four NBA titles. Ellis and his teammates have been credited with building a platform for those Golden State teams to win, even though they did not have elite talent at the time.
Ellis, however, may have gone a step too far when he suggested that the Warriors would have been just as successful if he had been in Curry’s spot.
“That’s what I dealt with. And people know that,” Ellis said, via Myron Medcalf of ESPN. “Real people that know basketball and all that, they know that. They know the team that I was dealt with. If you switched me and Steph out with the team that won the championships, it’d be the same thing. So you’ve got to take the good with the bad, and that’s cool. It put me in a position to make money for me and my family. I ran with that.”
Whether intentional or not, Ellis’ remarks certainly read like him saying things would have gone exactly the same for the Warriors with him in Curry’s place. Absolutely no one was buying that.
As someone who was a huge Monta Ellis fan, he is absolutely out of his mind 🤣 https://t.co/EujNd64kNQ
— Vontae (@dvjames9) August 9, 2026
Former NBA players are some of the most delusional people this planet has to offer man… This guy was never even close to an MVP-level season😭
— Benny (@BennyNotNice) August 9, 2026
The guy was done playing in the NBA before Steph won title #2 what is he talking about?
— Jeff Larson (@JLARSONPDX) August 9, 2026
Massive Monta Ellis fan here.
— 🌚 (@caiberidi) August 9, 2026
This is simply unacceptable. Just stop.
Monta is a Bay Area legend so I’ll be respectful
— NO SAUCES ENT. (@b0y1da_) August 9, 2026
He’s just plain wrong. Leave it at that https://t.co/Xit9JnyF3W
Ellis was a very good player. He was also a 31.4 percent shooter from three over the course of his career and never averaged 20 points per game in a season after he left the Warriors. Curry, on the other hand, is a two-time MVP who changed the sport in many ways. His threat as a shooter is so great that he facilitates opportunities for his teammates even when he isn’t touching the ball.
This is hardly the first deranged thing Ellis has said about the level of NBA player he was. His confidence is admirable, but absolutely no one agrees with him.
