Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry is recognized as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, fundamentally altering the game by popularizing the three-point shot. Born on March 14, 1988, in Akron, Ohio, into a family with a strong athletic background, Curry's father, Dell, was an NBA player, and his mother, Sonya, played volleyball. He played college basketball at Davidson College, where he quickly made a name for himself and led his team to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight before being selected by the Golden State Warriors as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Curry's rise in the NBA was meteoric; he became known for his extraordinary shooting skills and formed the "Splash Brothers" duo with teammate Klay Thompson. Throughout his career, he has accumulated numerous accolades, including multiple league championships, MVP awards, and All-Star selections. His influence on the game has prompted a shift in playing styles, moving from a focus on "big men" to emphasizing perimeter shooting. Off the court, Curry is involved in philanthropy and community service, particularly through initiatives aimed at supporting children's health and education. He is married to Ayesha Curry, and they have three children together.
Stephen Curry
Basketball player
- Born: March 14, 1988
- Place of Birth: Akron, Ohio
Significance: Widely considered to be the best shooter in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Stephen Curry helped change the game of basketball by emphasizing the three-point shot. He set numerous NBA records and earned multiple league championships, Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, and All-Star selections throughout his career.
Background
Wardell Stephen Curry II was born into an athletic family on March 14, 1988, in Akron, Ohio. His mother, Sonya, played volleyball for Virginia Tech and founded Christian Montessori School in Lake Norman, North Carolina. His father, Dell, played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1986 until 2002 and later worked as a color commentator in sports broadcasting. Curry’s younger brother, Seth, would also reach the NBA. His sister, Sydel, played volleyball at Elon University in North Carolina.
Curry spent most of his childhood in North Carolina while his father played basketball for the Charlotte Hornets. In 1999, when Curry was eleven years old, Dell Curry was signed to the Toronto Raptors, and the family relocated for a short time to Canada. Stephen Curry played basketball in Toronto for Queensway Christian College during his eighth-grade year. Videos from the time show that he was already adept at shooting from outside the three-point line.
Although Curry wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and play collegiate ball for the Virginia Tech Hokies, he was only offered a walk-on spot. He accepted an offer from Davidson College in North Carolina and proceeded to set records beginning with his 2006–07 freshman season. In his first year of collegiate ball, Curry shot 122 three-pointers. He was then selected as a representative of the United States team at the 2007 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Under-19 World Championships. The team finished in second place.
The Rise to Basketball Stardom
As a six-foot-three Davidson College sophomore, Stephen Curry was named to the Associated Press’s All-America Second Team. That same year, in 2008, Curry was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Midwest Region at the NCAA Tournament. He was also nominated for an ESPY award in the Breakthrough of the Year category. Curry’s junior year would prove to be his last in college basketball. Following a successful 2008–09 season in which he scored a college career-high 44 points, he was chosen by the Golden State Warriors as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Curry’s first NBA contract landed him $12.7 million over four years.
The Warriors’ rookie soon became a household name. In his first season, Curry scored a rookie-record 166 three-pointers. At the close of the 2009–10 season, Curry was the first runner-up for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and landed a spot on the NBA All-Rookie First Team. Unfortunately, a series of injuries led to a number of missed games during the following two seasons. Fully recovered from an ankle sprain, Curry scored 272 three-pointers during the 2012–13 season. He and his teammate, Klay Thompson, were dubbed the “Splash Brothers.” Together the duo sank 483 three-pointers that season.
During the 2013–14 season, Curry went on to make 261 three-point shots. Together, the Splash Brothers set a new record with 484 three-pointers. They would break that record again and again in the years that followed. In 2015, Curry helped the Warriors beat superstar LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers to take the championship title, the franchise’s first since 1975. Curry was also selected as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2015 season. Although Cleveland went on to beat the Warriors to win the 2016 championship, Curry was awarded his second regular-season MVP Award, this time as the first player ever selected by unanimous vote. Also in 2016, Curry led the NBA in three-point shots with 324 over 79 games. In 2017, Cleveland and the Warriors again went head-to-head to battle for the championship. This time, the Warriors clinched the title with a win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. In 2018, the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers once again to capture another championship. They reached the Finals for the fifth straight season in 2019 but lost to Curry’s father’s old team, the Toronto Raptors.
At the start of the 2017–18 season, Curry signed a contract extension with the Warriors for more than $200 million, setting a new NBA record. This came under new rules for so-called supermax contracts, which allowed teams to pay more than their rivals in order to retain their homegrown stars. Unfortunately, injuries plagued the team during the 2019–20 season. Curry was expected to carry the Warriors’ offense after Kevin Durant left the team to play for the Brooklyn Nets and Thompson sat on the injured list. However, Curry suffered a broken bone in his hand and was sidelined from late October 2019 until March 2020. Soon after his return, basketball came to a halt as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation, and the NBA hit the pause button on further games; the Warriors did not qualify for the special tournament that eventually concluded the season that July–October.
Curry returned to play for the 2020–21 season, though expectations for the Warriors were limited with Thompson again injured. Curry himself struggled with injuries as well, yet still managed to achieve a new career high of 62 points in the sixth game of the season. That season, he became the all-time three-point leader after scoring the 2,974th three-pointer of his career. Curry continued to break records throughout the season and won his second Three-Point Contest at the NBA All-Star Game, though the Warriors did not make it to the postseason. This changed in the 2021-2022 season when the Warriors beat the Celtics to secure the NBA Championship, Curry’s fourth, and his first NBA Finals MVP designation.
During the 2022–23 season, Curry earned his ninth All-Star selection, and the Warriors finished sixth in their conference to earn a playoff berth. Although Curry scored a playoff career–high 50 points against the Sacramento Kings in a Game 7 victory in the first round of the 2022–23 postseason, the Warriors lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference semifinals. The following season, Curry was awarded the NBA Clutch Player of the Year Award. However, the team did not qualify for the postseason. In 2024, Curry traveled to Paris with the US Olympic men's basketball team, where he won a gold medal. During the semifinal matchup against Serbia, he scored 36 points, the highest-scoring performance of an American basketball player at the Olympics. He also made 9 three-pointers, the second most by an American at the Olympic Games and the most by a player in an Olympic elimination game. That same year, he signed a one-year contract extension with the Warriors for $62.6 million, making him the first player to earn more than $60 million in one season.
Impact
Stephen Curry is credited with changing the game of basketball. The earlier “big man” era, in which the tallest players in the center position prevailed, had been replaced by dramatic offense carried out by two-point shooting guards. Curry’s proficiency as a three-point shooting machine changed the game once again. Prior to his arrival on the court, many longtime basketball stars believed there was no way to win with three-point shots. Curry proved them wrong, and seasoned veterans had to change the way they played the game in order to keep up.
In 2019, The New York Times selected Curry as “the defining player of the decade,” and his best-selling jersey proved his popularity among NBA fans. Stephen Curry emerged as a three-point powerhouse and played a key role in the Golden State Warriors’ historic dynasty.
Personal Life
Curry married actor Ayesha Curry in June 2011, and they had three children together. Daughter Riley was born in 2012, daughter Ryan was born in 2015, and son Canon was born in 2018. An avid golfer, Curry also became known for his philanthropy. In 2024, the World Golf Hall of Fame presented him with the Charlie Sifford Award for his contributions in advancing diversity in golf. From 2012 to 2016, he donated three mosquito nets to the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets charity every time he scored a three-pointer. The nets were sent to areas of the world that suffer from high rates of malaria. In 2015, upon winning the MVP award, Curry donated the car he won to the East Oakland Youth Development Center. With his wife Ayesha, Curry launched the Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation in 2019. The nonprofit focused on providing safe spaces for children to play and healthy food for children to eat.
Bibliography
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