Curry shoes kick it in solidarity with Asian Americans

In a show of solidarity with the Asian community, Warriors guard Stephen Curry wore a pair of handpainted Under Armour Curry 8s during Sunday night’s game against the Hawks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Curry worked with the Bruce Lee Foundation to create the yellow and black sneakers, which depict the late martial arts icon with his family. On the inner panel is one of Curry’s favorite Lee quotes, “Under the heavens, there is but one family.”

Shortly after last month’s Atlantaarea shootings that left eight people dead — including six Asians — Curry contacted Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter, and Dennis Chang of the Bruce Lee Foundation about helping him find a way to show support for the victims’ families. Curry plans to auction the shoes worn in Sunday’s game in coming weeks and donate all the proceeds to the eight victims’ families.

“Steph never ceases to amaze me,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “Just the way he wields his influence and his status, he understands the power that he holds — whether it’s to raise money or raise awareness, or just a kind gesture. It’s usually all of the above.

“So, he’s just an incredibly thoughtful, selfaware athlete who combines his beautiful competence and humility and compassion that all sort of sums up who he is.”

Kreative Kustom Kicks, which last year designed a pair of sneakers Curry wore to honor the late Kobe and Gianna Bryant, created the Leeinspired shoes that Curry wore Sunday. This is just the latest show of support a member of the Warriors has directed toward the Asian community in recent weeks.

With violence against Asians surging in the U.S., several players have condemned the attacks, including the March 16 shootings in Atlanta.

“It’s just disgusting,” Kerr said at the time. “We can do so much better. I hear people talk about the price of freedom. We have no freedom, if people are getting murdered by mentally unstable people with guns that are easily bought. That doesn’t sound like freedom to me. Freedom would be the ability to live without fear of getting murdered. …

“If we could save one life, it would be worth it. And, everyone who cries about freedom is getting the point wrong. Freedom is being able to live without fear.”

Paschall update: Forward Eric Paschall will miss at least the next seven games with a left hip flexor strain, the team announced Sunday afternoon.

Paschall, 24, missed two games with a sore left wrist before returning for Friday night’s 13077 loss to the Raptors, in which he posted nine points, six rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes. The injury occurred with little more than two minutes left when he broke up a lob intended for Toronto forward Chris Boucher and came up hobbling.

Paschall underwent an MRI exam Saturday, which revealed the strained hip flexor. Set to be reevaluated April 18, he could return for the Warriors’ April 19 game at Philadelphia.

In 39 games this season, Paschall has averaged 9.5 points on 49.1% shooting (32.1% from 3point range), 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists.