Looking at him you wouldn’t think Stephen Curry was the great basketball player he is. All his life he was underrated and underestimated because he isn’t extremely tall, or build very muscular. In fact, he looks kind of average. But don’t let that fool you. This guy isn’t the NBA’s MVP for no reason.
Getting this title wasn’t so obvious for Curry. He used to be the smallest kid on his middle school basketball team and he even failed to get a scholarship. But all of these hard times are why his fans appreciate him so much.
“I’m them. I can’t jump the highest. I’m obviously not the biggest, not the strongest. And so they see me out there and I look like a normal person. Look at those guys over there, man. Those guys have probably taken a hundred shots. They can sit out there all day shooting. You can’t teach them how to tomahawk dunk, but you could probably teach them how to shoot. And for fans, there’ll just always be a personal attachment to the shooting part of the game,” Curry says during an interview with Variety.com.
Even though he has proven himself to be a great player who absolutely deserves a spot at the top, winning the title of MVP and reigning champion of the NBA came as a surprise to Curry. “The day the vote tally came in and they announced the All-Star starters. I was sitting on the couch with my wife, just staring at the TV. It’s me and Kobe and LeBron.… It doesn’t make any sense, man,” he admitted.
When he got the trophy in his hand he didn’t have to think twice and took it home to his childhood house and brought it back to high school and college. “I’m just blessed, man, to be able to represent solidarity with the small schools I went to. The whole story is just comical,” Curry explained.
During his first season in ’09-’10, Curry wasn’t the big shot he is now. He played for the Golden state warriors, which didn’t finish high in the league what so ever. But Curry managed to show off his best side during the games and came in second in the Rookie Of The Year voting.
He didn’t stop there and kept on improving his skills but during his third season he had a minor setback due an injury. That didn’t stop him though, because the next season he came back even harder.
Experts say that Curry’s magic is in his moves. It doesn’t matter if he has to shoot from long range or that he needs to score from a tight corner. He always does it with a move that looks more like a volleyball move than a basketball move, according to the experts.
What makes Curry so loved by his fans is his relatable human side as a dad as well. His daughter Riley might even be more popular than he is himself. When she was only two years old, Riley went viral when at a press conference after one of daddy’s games, she got rid of her chewing gum (she disposed it into the hand of one of the team’s employees) and she started singing a Drake song.
“With Riley now, it’s this whole new challenge, with people recognizing her when we walk down the street. Everywhere we go, everybody’s asking, ‘Where’s Riley?’ We got TV shows, managers, sponsors calling, wanting to do deals with a 3-year-old, and we’re like, ‘What do you mean?’ How much is too much? We’re obviously on alert and trying to protect her childhood as much as possible. You learn that there’s no right way to do it, no wrong way to do it. It’s just what you feel comfortable with, to trust that and don’t let anybody box you in to a certain style of parenting or make you feel a certain way about what your kids do,” Curry said about his now famous daughter.
He doesn’t care what other people think of him or the decisions he’s making, as long as his family is happy. “People have told me, ‘You shouldn’t bring your daughter onto the podium, ’cause it’s the workplace,’ and things like that. But I’m not gonna really listen to that. I’m gonna do what I think is fun for me and my family, and everything’ll be all right.”