After a weekend full of assists, he finally gets to play the game
NEW YORK — Some break. Warriors point guard Stephen Curry has spent the All-Star “break” zigzagging through all five New York boroughs — showing off his abilities as a marketing marvel and verging on becoming the face of the NBA.
“I think the fact that he’s such a highly skilled player ... it’s an example for other young players to see that it’s not just about being the biggest and the strongest player,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “While he’s tall, he’s not huge.
“I also think he’s a player of great character. He’s the kind of player commissioners dream about.”
Since taking a red-eye flight
from Minneapolis on Wednesday and landing in New York early Thursday, Curry barely has had time to breathe. He did a four-hour media circuit Thursday morning and was whisked off to a “Tonight Show” appearance with Jimmy Fallon.
Curry was jokingly voted the most likely All-Star to get carded while trying to buy milk and zinged the show’s writers right back. He said one of the writers, Jonathan Adler, was the most likely to call Chuck E. Cheese’s “da club.”
Then there were appearances at consecutive Under Armour events, promoting his debut signature shoe hitting stores and the airing of a commercial with Oscarwinning actor Jamie Foxx.
In the commercial, Curry shows off his rhythmic jumper while Foxx orates in the background, christening the 26-year-old as the “patron saint of the underdogs” and dubbing him “the league’s most unguardable player.”
There was little rest awaiting Curry as he made an appearance on “Good Morning America” first thing Friday. Robin Roberts interviewed Curry for three minutes and raved about the All-Star Game’s leading vote-getter being “so humble and unassuming.”
From there, Curry visited a Foot Locker store, where he met a swarm of fans and signed autographs in a foreshadowing of what would happen next. Fifteen minutes before Curry arrived at the Sheraton for media availability, reporters were already positioning their cameras and tape recorders at his table.
He was inundated with 30 minutes’ worth of questions and a handful of non-questions that simply used the time to praise him as the frontrunner for the league’s MVP award.
As a fitting example of just how far Curry has climbed on the league’s importance scale, he was joined by LeBron James and Silver at an NBA Cares Day of Service event.
Curry then starred at PlayStation and Express events while the folks from Under Armour were worrying about whether their plans for the rest of the week would even be possible.
Curry’s All-Star weekend shoes were stolen in transit to Brooklyn, according to NiceKicks.com. Under Armour had to rush him a second pair, so he could sport the “Candy Reign” version during Saturday’s Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and a Charlotte Hornets-esque “Father to Son” pair for the Degree Shooting Stars.
Curry will debut a black and purple, camouflage-based “Dark Matter” version at Sunday’s All-Star Game.
But that all had to wait for Curry’s busy Saturday morning. He started the day by addressing a group of Special Olympics athletes at Madison Square Garden.
He then drew the most cheers of any player when introduced at the Western Conference’s practice. Even after practice was over, he couldn’t get off the court.
Curry missed a seated shot, an attempt at bouncing the ball in from the free-throw line, a blindfolded free throw and a crossover threepointer against actor Michael Rapaport in losing Degree’s Battle of the Game Changer to Washington point guard John Wall.
After the competition, Curry was rushed to a post-practice interview area, but the media gaggle awaiting him was so large that he had to be moved into a conference room — where he reiterated his desire to win the threepoint competition.
“A Curry has never won a three-point contest, so I’ve got to do it for the family,” he said. “I want it pretty bad. I know it’s a contest, and it’s done for show and all of that, but you’re shooting against great competition.
“I’ve gotten a taste of the competition, and I want to win it.”
As part of an endorsement deal with State Farm, Curry arrived at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in the costume of Sebastian Curry, his fictional twin brother who “assists” with insurance. Then, he got suited up to participate in the Shooting Stars and Three-Point Contest.
He usually writes a portion of the Bible scripture Philippians 4:13 on his shoes, but he used the All-Star weekend stage to make a different statement. To honor the memory of Deah Shaddy Barakat, who was killed in a triple homicide in Chapel Hill, N.C., Curry wrote a tribute on his shoes.
“Even though we never met, I think it will hopefully mean a lot to his family and friends and give some kind of peace knowing that people are thinking about him,” Curry said. “They’re not alone.”
With that tragedy weighing on his mind and a colossal lack of sleep, how could Curry possibly have anything left for Sunday’s All-Star Game? Well, Las Vegas believes he’s still got plenty in the tank.
According to Bovada, Curry is the 13-to-4 favorite to win the game’s MVP award, edging James and Kevin Durant, who have 7-to-2 odds.
“It’ll be nice once we’re done on Sunday to have 2½ days to kind of relax,” Curry said. “It’s tough. You finish your schedule, fly to New York and get pulled in a lot of different directions and then play in the game.
“In years past, it’s obviously been a tough transition back into practice on Monday for games on Tuesday or Wednesday. The extra days this year will be a huge benefit to not only recharge the body, but also the mind after that crazy weekend.”