Stephen Curry is one of the best players in the NBA today and is regarded as the best shooter ever to play the game. But long before Steph became the superstar he is today, the late Kobe Bryant already knew that Steph was destined for greatness.
That’s what Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike narrated during an appearance at the recent The Shop UNINTERRUPTED episode.
“I get a call from Tip in the middle of the night. He’s like, ‘Hey’, I’m like, ‘What’s up?’ It’s actually, it’s just evening. He’s like, ‘Hey’, he said, get down to the studio.’ I was like, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘Because Kobe is here, and I know you love him. I got up, and I took my wife, I made sure. I hated when we took the picture. I was like LeBron’s her favorite player, so I was like, ‘You like tall niggas. I ain’t taking no risks.’”
“But I remember asking Kobe, I was like, ‘Yo’ I said, ‘You finna retire on me.’ I said ‘I don’t really know who I’m going to be like.’ Yo this man, he’s the goat. He’s going to take it all this year. ‘Who should I follow?’ And he said ‘I’m going to tell you’. He said, ‘It’s this kid if he can stay healthy because he’s skinny.’ And I’m looking at Kobe like if nobody on the television side if y’all never seen him in person, he physically wasn’t impressive. He was thin, real thin. I used to wonder like, how the f*** you be doing that on court? You look like a god on the court. It looks like I could take you in a streetfight. You know what I’m saying? And he was like ‘Man, it’s this kid.’ He says, ‘I’m watching him.’ He says ‘But I think he’s who you should follow.’ And I was like, ‘Who?’ He’s this kid named Steph Curry. And that’s when I start watching Steph and Golden State. And he is not disappointing. I was like oh my God.”
Steph Curry’s ankles
Steph Curry’s seemingly fragile frame and history of ankle injuries in high school and college raised concern before the 2009 NBA Draft. Those worries were among the reasons why seven teams passed on him on draft night.
Even early in his NBA career, Curry’s ankle problems worried a lot of people, including the Warriors. He injured his ankle several times during the 2010-11 season and needed surgery. He reinjured the ankle again the following year, prompting a second surgery, and played in only 26 games during the 2012 season.
“He was turning his ankle in completely nontraditional, crazy ways,” said former Warriors GM Bob Myers. “It was scary. I’d never seen someone sprain his ankle like that prior to Steph. And I haven’t seen it since.”
But once he and his doctors figured it out, Steph has been relatively healthy, save for that hand injury that sidelined him for 77 games during the 2020 season. Along the way, Curry has led the Warriors to four NBA titles. He’s won two MVP awards and was the 2022 NBA Finals MVP. At 35 years of age, he’s played 14 NBA seasons and looked better than ever this past year.
Kobe liked Steph Curry’s game a lot
That wasn’t the only time that the Black Mamba showed his admiration for Steph Curry. In fact, Curry once said that his favorite comment about himself was Kobe telling Michael Wilbon seven years ago how deadly he (Steph) was as a player because of his calm demeanor on the basketball court.
Kobe’s former Lakers teammate Jordan Clarkson also Bleacher Report in 2016 that Bryant used to talk to him about Curry and how he (Clarkson) should play off-ball like the Golden State superstar.
“So Kobe was one of those greats who I think identified because he reminded me of Hercules,” Killer Mike added. “He knew he wasn’t, at some point, the God, Michael Jordan. But he’s one of the players that I really saw have the desire to defeat his idol, and that’s admirable to me.”
The Black Mamba was known for his keen eye for detail. Kobe Bryant was meticulous, studying the game and the great players. So it’s not surprising that he also paid attention to the players who would carry the torch when he retired. And boy, was he right about Steph Curry.