Will Stoudemire be in the Suns’ future or past?

 Amaré Stoudemire has microfracture knee surgery, a detached retina and the wear and tear of hundreds of NBA games on Stephen Curry, so it’s not fair to compare the two players.

Still, as the Suns and Golden State Warriors played their usual helter-skelter game Friday — Phoenix won its home opener, 123-101, you couldn’t help but wonder about the trade that was never made.

Remember? The Suns thought they had a verbal agreement with the Warriors in which Stoudemire would go to Golden State for a package of players, including the seventh overall pick in the first round of last June’s draft.

But when Curry unexpectedly fell to the Warriors at No. 7, coach Don Nelson backed out of the deal. The Suns were disappointed — they tried to mask their feelings by saying they hadn’t agreed to any trade — but Stoudemire was ecstatic. In his mind, Golden State is basketball purgatory.

“The purpose of playing basketball is to win,” he said. “You don’t want to go to a team that doesn’t have a chance to win. You don’t want to put yourself in that predicament.”

Friday’s game was the first chance for Phoenix’s fans to see what the Suns missed out on and, in Stoudemire, what they still had.

Let’s start with Amaré.

Stoudemire can elicit a multitude of opinions, but everyone agrees on one thing: He’s worked extremely hard to recover from the three surgeries on his eye, and for perhaps the first time in his career he’s putting an honest day’s work in on defense.

Stoudemire took two charging calls Friday, which may have equaled his output all last season. By coach Alvin Gentry’s count, Stoudemire has taken 10 charges in 10 games this year, including the preseason.

“He has worked harder in training camp and in the preseason than I’ve ever seen him work,” Gentry said. “He wants to get better. I think he’s doing everything he can to be the best defensive player he can.”

Offensively, Stoudemire isn’t the same player he was before suffering the eye injury last February. He put up good numbers Friday — 20 points, five rebounds and one blocked shot in 30 minutes — but he lacks the explosiveness he had in the past. Whether that’s because of his knees or his hesitancy to attack the basket like he used to because he’s worried about contact inside, who knows.

“The explosiveness is there,” Stoudemire said. “It’s a matter of me getting comfortable with the moves again. I’ve been off for so long. I’m just not as sharp as I was.”

Stoudemire has one big advantage over Curry: He has players — and a coach — around him who care. The Warriors play as if they’ve already packed it in for the season. Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette and Kelenna Azubuike apparently are getting paid per field-goal attempt, and Nelson did as much coaching Friday as the basketball standard.

It’s not fair to ask Curry to play point guard for a bunch of knuckleheads, but even then it’s easy to see his talent.

Curry’s quick, he has a great shot and he already has a better feel for the NBA than many veterans.

“He has a good understanding of the game and he’s a big-time competitor,” Gentry said of Curry, who had 12 points and four assists in 39 minutes. “He’s smart enough that he can run a team. Obviously he’s an excellent shooter. He’s got a real bright future. He really does.”

Stoudemire’s future, as we all know, is fluid. He can opt out of his contract after this season.

In the end, that may be the biggest reason the Suns wish the deal went down.

Curry would have been the future.

Stoudemire could soon be the past.