NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 15, 2025

Stephen Curry

Shaq's OGs

Media Day Press Conference

Q. Steph, any thoughts on being back in this building, and also sort of the history of -- we talked about the HBCU game being here and the history of that in Oakland, what the significance of what's happening here today in this building.

STEPHEN CURRY: This is a moment for sure. I think the idea of knowing we made the move to Chase Center and been in San Francisco the last six seasons, to have a little bit of a moment to honor and reminisce the 47 years that we played in this building, the 10 years that I had, growing up in the game inside of these walls, the energy in this building that can come back just like that, I've enjoyed it to the fullest.

To your point about having another opportunity to shine a light on the HBCUs and the game that's being played, it is a moment that's just truly Oakland, truly authentic to what I have experienced here, and it all matters. So, it's pretty dope.

Q. If you were the Commissioner for a day, what would be one rule you would change?

STEPHEN CURRY: I would probably want to see the refs' grading system probably, like let that be more public, the same kind of way our stats are shown on a nightly basis. Not to make their job any harder because it's a really hard job, but it would be interesting from a fan and player perspective to know why a ref is a great ref and how they kind of rate their system a little bit. I'm curious about that.

Q. [Question from Warriors teammate Gui Santos] I'm here today not as your teammate but as a reporter…

STEPHEN CURRY: You're always my teammate. You're always my guy.

Q. What advice would you give to a young kid who came from Brazil, like me, who wants to make it to the NBA?

STEPHEN CURRY: To watch as much basketball as you can, have obviously confidence in yourself and your work ethic and what makes you unique as a basketball player. Your confidence can take you a long way. It's not arrogance; it's not believing you're better than you are. It's just having confidence in your skill set and the time and the work and the energy that you put into getting better just a little bit every single day.

But the more that you can watch basketball and be in environments where you're playing against people that are better than you to challenge you and test you and expose you a little bit, that can help you climb the ladder and hopefully opportunity is on the other end of it.

Q. Christmas Day we were in San Francisco, and you guys and the Lakers were both probably around .500. The conversation is, are we going to get to see Steph and LeBron James playing for competitive teams for the end of their career? A couple months forward, you've got Jimmy, they've got Doncic, who's playing well. What have you learned about how things can change in this league and the patience, how it can pay off and to not react in the moment, because there could be something around the corner?

STEPHEN CURRY: I think the biggest -- well, we've all learned recently how quickly things can change in this league, some of the unexpected happening. The patience or like assessing where your team is and what can actually make you better, how far that gap is, that's why there's GMs and player personnel groups and advanced analytics and all that, because from a player's perspective, we obviously know the game, see the game, feel the game and have a certain opinion about how you can be competitive.

But that's why everybody gets paid to do their job. Every team is trying to figure out how to make the necessary moves to -- if your goal is to win a championship, to do that. Obviously ours, and like you said, the Lakers and plenty of other teams are trying to do that on a daily basis.

For us as players, you just do your job and make sure you're staying prepared and healthy and available and handling our business. But that's why there are folks upstairs that are relied on to make those tough decisions and try to do their job the best they can.

Q. At this point in your career your legacy is pretty secure, but having the All-Star Game in Oakland and San Francisco, does this feel like a culmination of everything in your career?

STEPHEN CURRY: It's weird, the more I get asked the question, it's like -- the more you talk about the reflection of the last 16 years.

It makes me more comfortable acknowledging, yeah, this is a cool celebration, ceremony of being in this arena, the first time the Bay has hosted the All-Star Game since 2000, what the experience is like at Chase. But you can't necessarily, for me even, allow the celebration to take your foot off the gas pedal and what I'm still trying to accomplish out there on the court.

It's an interesting balance because you don't want it to -- I think I made a reference to Coming to America 2, where they had the live funeral thing and everybody is celebrating you but you're still there and witnessing it. I don't want it to be that at all. But you do want to celebrate it to some extent for sure.

Q. We saw MiLaysia Fulwiley sign with the Curry Brand. Fans were really excited about that signing when you did it, particularly many in the LGBTQ+ community because of the representation. I was wondering why MiLaysia was the first collegiate athlete to sign to Curry Brand, and does representation at all factor into the athletes you target for Curry Brand athletes?

STEPHEN CURRY: For sure we accept the whole person, and for MiLaysia the way she carries herself and obviously as a basketball player on and off the court, we see a lot of potential in her. She believes in what we're doing. She's been to my camps, and obviously at South Carolina doing amazing things, winning a championship in her freshman year, and trying to continue to get better and keep pushing the envelope on what she can accomplish in her career.

As you build out your roster, you want to have just good people that truly understand, one, they want to be great on the court; two, they stand for something, represent something off the court, and they're always looking for ways to impact the community, and she checks all those boxes.

Q. It's very cool to see a Dutch guy in the league again, Quinten Post. What can you tell us about him, and how is he as a teammate?

STEPHEN CURRY: He's a great teammate. He's taking full advantage of his opportunity. He spent a lot of time in the G League early and was getting a lot of reps, getting better every single day, trying to figure out how he could be prepared for when his time came to try to crack to our rotation, and he's done that.

He's super confident. He sees the game really well. He's a high-IQ player, and obviously he can shoot.

His confidence and his presence is felt. You’ve seen a couple games he's hit some big shots and he's celebrating, fist pumping like he knows he belongs, and it's been great to kind of see him figure it out.

Q. What responsibility do you take and feel with respect to the NBA and the state of the three-point shot? And when you hear this conversation, what goes through your head, given what the three-point shot has meant to you and what you've meant to that shot?

STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, Mark Jackson coined that phrase back in, was it 2014, '15, something like that, talking about walking into high schools, middle school gyms and just seeing kids run to the three-point line.

That impact is pretty surreal to me just because that's the way that I've seen the game since I was a kid. I love expanding my range, but even more, I love the work that goes into earning and deserving that confidence.

That's the message that I preach all the time is I want everybody to be inspired, if you love basketball, to be able to shoot and get better and stretch your range and shoot five, 10 feet outside the three-point line. I would love you to be inspired to do that, but you've also got to work at it, too.

So the ruining the game thing, it's just a charge and a challenge to, if you want to do that, then get in the gym, get your reps in and earn it.

I don't have any problem with guys and teams shooting a lot of threes. Obviously, that's the way that I play, and I love that factor in the game, but you've also got to put the work in behind the scenes to take full advantage of it.

Q. If you had to give your 12-year-old self some advice, what would that be?

STEPHEN CURRY: Stay true to yourself. Find joy in everything that you do because that'll carry you a long way when life throws a lot of challenges and hurdles at you. You've got to find the fun in life.

Q. For youth basketball in the Bay Area, do you have plan for helping to make it better?

STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah. I think first and foremost -- like I don't have a team or a league or anything, but to be able to create safe places in refurbished gyms for kids and teams in youth leagues to go play and have the proper environment and facilities to experience the game of basketball, I think that's the way I'm trying to have an impact right now.

Doing a lot of work through the Oakland Unified School District, and between Curry Brand and my foundation, me and my wife's foundation, that's part of our mission, to on top of that increase middle school sport participation, which is going the wrong way. We want to get kids more active and more engaged, because sports can teach you so much about life, and giving them the right facilities, the right equipment, training coaches the right way, that's how we want to be involved, and I think we're off to a good start there.