HOUSTON — Steph Curry, the global basketball superstar, is our surprise headliner for the Season 1 finale of “Sports Legends of the Carolinas.”
Curry is the youngest person of the 15 I’ve interviewed for this series. But few would argue with the fact that Curry, who played collegiately at Davidson and in high school at Charlotte Christian, has already achieved legendary status.
In the NBA, Curry is a two-time Most Valuable Player and a four-time NBA champion, all with the Golden State Warriors. He has revolutionized basketball with his mastery of the three-point shot.
At age 34, Curry remains firmly in his basketball prime, averages 32.3 points per game this season and hosted the ESPYs in July.
So you’ve probably heard of him. What you won’t know, however, are all the stories that Curry tells in this exclusive and wide-ranging interview with The Charlotte Observer.
We did this interview Saturday night in Houston, meeting up with a gracious Curry on a day he had already watched his daughter’s volleyball practice in California, fulfilled several other obligations and flown halfway across the country in preparation for the Warriors’ next game. Excerpts follow, but the full conversation covers more ground and can be heard on the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast.
In the interview, Curry discusses his college recruitment, his time at Davidson, the Warriors’ slow start and the three best shots he’s made in his career. He also admits he’s still curious about the possibility of closing out his career with the Charlotte Hornets sometime after his current contract expires in 2026.
In Curry’s words: “What would it be like to wear No. 30 in Charlotte, like my pops?”
The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Scott Fowler: Like a lot of people in Charlotte, Steph, I was able to watch you grow up. When you were 17 years old at Charlotte Christian, where did you think your basketball career might peak?
Steph Curry: At that time, I was just happy to get a couple of mass emails or mass recruiting letters. My first letter was from Colgate University. I remember getting it in geography class in junior year. The guidance counselor brought it in the middle of class and I was like, “That’s the biggest deal in the world!”
Fast forward to senior year, where you’re really thinking about what college could look like and where the opportunity might be. And obviously, Davidson was the best choice and the right choice. But the NBA was a goal. ... Being around the Hornets with my Dad (Dell Curry, a 16-year NBA player and an early star for the Hornets). Watching him play and being around his teammates — I wanted to be there. But I had no idea what my path would be like.
Q: For those who never saw you play at Charlotte Christian, what sort of high school player were you?
A: I could shoot. That was kind of my strong suit. Any team that I was on, they always told me to shoot more. I was always a pass-first point guard and loved getting other people involved. I had a lot of confidence shooting the ball, but I was never like a volume-type guy.
Q: You didn’t average that many points in high school.
A: Not in high school, no. Not until I got to Davidson when I played with another great point guard in Jason Richards, who kind of unlocked that volume kind of scoring ability for me. ... I was kind of a skinny, scrawny kid on every team that I played on, a late bloomer. My freshman year I was probably 5-9 at best and like 150 pounds and I graduated at a whopping 6-1 and 170. That was probably a lot of the recruiting struggles I had, because I just didn’t look the part.
Q: UNC and Duke famously never recruited you, nor did any of the other major schools, right?
A: None of ACC country did. My (final college) list came down to Davidson, Winthrop and Virginia Commonwealth.
Q: Did you ever get on the recruiting radar of the bigger schools?
A: No. My favorite story on the journey was I played in a team camp at UNC Charlotte the summer between my junior and senior year (in 2005). Coach K was there. Roy (Williams) was there. Pretty much everybody from the ACC was there. And I was like: “This is my moment. I’m gonna play well in this tournament. I’m gonna come home, be patient and they’re going to start calling the house!”
I thought I played well. And months passed. And I got to my senior year in high school, and still it was just Bob McKillop, showing up at our open gyms in Charlotte Christian and saying, “We still have an offer for you.”
Steph Curry at Davidson
Q: The favorite game I saw you play in person at any level was Davidson vs. Georgetown in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2008 in Raleigh. Davidson was down by 17 points in the second half, and you had 25 points in that second half to lead a comeback. What was your favorite game at Davidson?
A: That is my favorite game, too. We had played Gonzaga in the game before and got Coach McKillop his first (NCAA) tournament win, and there was a lot of excitement and kind of shock around that experience. Then we play the No. 2 seed, Georgetown, with arguably, six or seven NBA pros. ... We’re down 17. We make that crazy comeback.
It became a really electric arena, and that second half was crazy. ... Just the adrenaline rush and the fact that when the horn sounded, we were jumping up and down and celebrating that we were going to the Sweet 16, coming from the humble Southern Conference.
Q: Is it true you once found a wallet with $160 in it at Davidson and tracked down the owner?
A: Yes. The Davidson bubble is real — a standard of taking care of people. Me and my roommate, Bryant Barr, were walking around campus and found a wallet on the ground. It didn’t have any identification in there but it had some money in there. ... We had a community board — this was before social media was really killing it. You could post “lost and found” stuff on it. And I had been the beneficiary of it once. So I was just doing my part to be part of the Davidson community.
Q: You earned your college degree this year and got it in a ceremony at Davidson about 13 years late. Do your old teammates tease you about graduating 13 years late?
A: Oh, absolutely.
Steph Curry’s 3 best shots
Q: You’ve made so many shots in your career. I wonder what is your favorite shot you made at any level?
A: Individual shot? That’s a good question. I think my favorite Davidson shot — and I’m going to pick one from high school, college and the pros — was against Gonzaga (in the 2008 NCAA tournament) with like 50 seconds left. Andrew Lovedale grabbed an offensive rebound. and kicked it out to me on the right wing and I knocked it down to take a three-point lead and pointed to my parents, and to the student section. That was kind of like the “I’m here” type moment.
In high school, I hit a game-winner my junior year. It was in a Christmas tournament, and it was the first time I accomplished something like that on that level.
The NBA? It’s not so much a shot, it’s more of a game. Game 4 of the 2022 Finals. I hit a three with a minute and some change left, on the right wing. It’s very similar to the Davidson shot, where it was, and the momentum. I’m just kind of putting that together. It wasn’t a game-winner, but it kind of sealed our fate.
Q: Is it ever tiring to be Steph Curry?
A: It is. ... The times that it gets difficult is just when you’re with your family and you’re trying to give the kids an experience that they will remember, and a healthy childhood. ... So when we’re out in public, it becomes tough to protect your privacy and your time.
Q: Do you ever turn people down?
A: Oh, for sure. I was at my daughter’s volleyball practice this morning and watching her and kind of in the moment, and you’ve got people every 30 seconds coming up, trying to get a picture. ... Respectfully, not right now, I’m watching my daughter. And they understand. ...
But a lot of that is it helped me being around my dad and my mom growing up in Charlotte where we’d go out to dinner and a family would come up. I got to see how they handled it. ... It’s part of the nature of the beast.
‘I feel like an old head’
Q: As a father of three now (Curry and his wife, Ayesha, have children ages 10, 7 and 4), what do you worry most about for your children?
A: As parents, you want to give your kids the confidence that who they are is enough.
I feel like an old head when I say this, but I didn’t grow up with social media. I didn’t grow up with Twitter and Instagram and just the countless distractions that can come at you from all different angles. I got to find out who I was before I started to get into the comparison game. I think that’s harder and harder for the younger generations now, to not get sucked into that world too soon. That’s for anybody, let alone for my kids with the spotlight (on them). ... I just want them to be proud of who they are. They are unique. They don’t have to live up to anything that the world tells them they have to.
Q: You’ve mentioned your parents, Dell and Sonya, a couple of times. Obviously, they’ve been very embedded in our community for a long time. How have you navigated something that happens to so many people — the divorce of your parents?
A: It’s difficult. ... But it’s also understanding who they are individually as people. ... And getting to know them and what makes them happy now. ... They’ve always been the anchors of our family in terms of doing exactly what I just said I want for my kids — they did that for me and my brother (Seth, also an NBA player) and my sister (Sydel). Life is crazy. It throws a lot at you and you find ways to navigate it.
Q: I want to ask you about the Carolina Panthers. They’ve fallen on some hard times. Your thoughts on the Panthers as they are in the midst of what probably will be their fifth losing season in a row?
A: It is interesting because I had a lot of Bay Area folks and media asking me, about the time Matt Rhule got fired, if Christian McCaffrey is going to be on the (trading) block. I’m like, “Why are you asking me?”
But it was funny that he ended up being traded to the 49ers and is now in the Bay Area. He actually came to a (Warriors) game recently with his new teammates. So I got to see him and hang out with him for a little bit.
The Panthers are still a passion and still my favorite team. They’re going to figure it out. Rebuilding is always difficult. Trying to figure out for Mr. Tepper (Dave Tepper, the Panthers owner), how he wants to run the team and making the right decisions at coach and quarterback.
Q: They’ve got to figure quarterback out.
A: Exactly. But hopefully the future’s bright, and I’m going to “Keep Pounding” all the way through it.
Kaepernick a ‘missed opportunity’
Q: You have been supportive of Colin Kaepernick since he began his protest in 2016. Given the Panthers’ problems at quarterback, do you think they should have taken a shot at signing Kaepernick?
A: Every team should have. It’s hard to kind of digest the why nots, and the reasons why. So, a very big missed opportunity there for sure.
Q: Would you seriously consider playing on the PGA senior tour?
A: Playing on the senior tour would be an amazing goal. I don’t know exactly what it would take in terms of time and in terms of your sacrifice to your family and all that. And you watch how good those guys are at 50-plus, and it’s not an easy thing. ... I don’t want to say I’d close the door on the interest. But I will be playing golf for a very long time no matter what it is.
Q: Your contract with Golden State runs through 2026. But have you ever dreamed about maybe coming back to Charlotte when you’re 38 or 39 years old and playing a few more years?
A: I think both things can be true: I love the journey with the Warriors, and there’s never been any real interest in playing for any other team.
But the curiosity around what it would be like to play for your hometown, what it’d be like to live in Charlotte, to possibly set up roots and all that? You think about it for sure. ... If I can play for the Warriors my entire career and be one of those guys where I’ve had a lot of success — individually and collectively as a team — and become a one-team guy? That list is pretty short. ...
But like I said, that can be true and also the curiosity of like, “What would it be like to wear No. 30 in Charlotte like my pops?”
‘A very awkward’ situation for Curry, Golden State
Q: Do you feel like the Warriors (8-10 this season) are going to figure it out this year on the road (Golden State is 1-9 away from home)? That’s been an issue so far.
A: It has, but definitely we understand who we are. With our championship DNA ... we have what it takes to figure it out. ...
It is weird, though. Being (1-9) on the road. ... This is a very awkward kind of situation to be in, for sure.
Q: What’s your advice for life, and how to live it well?
A: I think you’ve got to run your own race first and foremost. ... We all should set goals for ourselves but you’ve got to be honest with what your journey is for you and embrace what that is, all the while being your authentic self.
I think that’s the hardest thing, especially for this younger generation, to really be confident in who they are and who God created them to be. There’s always this temptation to look at the finished, polished product of what you want to be and not embrace and enjoy the journey of what it takes for you to get there. That’s your race, and you have to run it.
