NBA player camps for upcoming high school prospects have been a staple in the development of grassroots basketball for years. They often allow for the younger generation of hoopers to get first-hand experience playing with and against some of the best players in the world. Steph Curry’s camp is a prime example of this, going on its eighth year of existence and serving as a launchpad for some of the brightest young stars in men’s and women’s basketball. His camp has featured names like Anthony Edwards, Jalen Green, Azzi Fudd, Paige Bueckers, and many others.
“We have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the next and greatest men’s and women’s high school athletes that are coming up in the game,” Curry tells Complex. “It gives me a lot of energy, and hopefully, I give them a lot of inspiration to keep on their journey.”
We caught up with Curry at the latest Curry Camp in San Francisco to discuss what it means to work with the future of basketball, devoting equal time to the men’s and women’s side of the camp, and which camp alumni that he knew was bound for greatness after participating in the camp.
So this is your eighth year doing the Curry Camp. How fulfilling is it each time you do this to be able to work with what people might consider the future of basketball?
This is our eighth year doing the Curry Camp, and it’s something that I think gets me excited. We have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the next and greatest men’s and women’s high school athletes that are coming up in the game and give them a little taste of how I work and even getting out to compete on the floor and do the work and do the drills with them. So it gives me a lot of energy and hopefully, I give them a lot of inspiration to keep on their journey and commit to the work that’s necessary to achieve their highest potential in the game. And just hopefully, we can be a small part in their journey to realize those dreams of playing college basketball, Division I, whatever it is, up to the NBA and WNBA. That’s why they’re here.
What is it like for yourself as a pro to host this camp and then look up each passing year to realize there is somebody from your camp that you’re now playing against in the NBA?
One, it’s hilarious to me just because it means you’re up there in terms of the years and the fact that I had two guys that were my teammates at one point, Nico Mannion and James Wiseman. We had Anthony Edwards here, and Dennis Smith Jr. The alumni that have been through Curry Camp that are playing in the NBA, eventually the WNBA. Knowing even what Azzi [Fudd] is doing at UConn, Paige [Bueckers], who’s here, Cam Brink at Stanford. Hopefully I can be around for a lot longer, so that list continues to grow. But yeah, it’s special to know that we’re a small part in their journey and now a lot of alumni are showing up in the league and realizing that dream.
You just named a list of players that have excelled in college, the NBA or the WNBA. Was there anybody in particular on the boys or girls side that you knew after the camp had a chance to really be special?
Anthony Edwards for sure. He just had a different demeanor and different competitive presence out there on the court during our camp sessions and even in the showcase game that we had. There were just plays that he made that nobody else really could. So I think that most people who watched that year would have had a lot of confidence in the fact that he’d be who he wanted to be.
We see Kent Bazemore out there as a counselor. Paul Biancardi as well. How do you go about picking the best teachers and counselors to develop these players during camp?
For me it’s easy just because it’s my people. Obviously we want to keep it to rhw Under Armour family and the Curry brand family. Azzi and Cam were the first two girls that were Curry Camp campers back four years ago or 2019. Coach McKillop from Davidson, who gave me so much confidence and helped me get to a level that I was at when I was at Davidson for those three years. He’s able to run a session. Kent Bazemore, who is the reason I was with Under Armour back in 2013. He was such a great ambassador for the brand and kind of gave me an understanding of what it meant to be a part of the UA family. So, it’s kind of a full circle moment to have him as a part of this camp. Basically just bringing my circle and bringing in people that know how I work, know what I do on a daily basis to get ready, and give these campers some insight on what that looks like.
Can you speak to what it’s like to have Under Armour’s support for an event like this consistently? We see various Nike athletes have their own camps. Adidas athletes as well. You’re the only one from Under Armour with a camp on the NBA side. What is it like having their support to carve out a camp like this?
I think that’s why the camp exists and why it was so important to me when I signed with UA. In college I finally got invites to LeBron’s camp, Steve Nash’s camp, Paul Pierce, Kobe. So I got to experience what that was like coming up and I wanted to have that for myself in a way that could reach these kids in an impactful way. Being out there on the floor with them, and competing with them and bringing the energy right there with them. I think UA saw that from the jump, and this is our eighth year and that’s not by accident with everything that we have invested into this brand, this experience and continuing to try and get better and elevate this experience for these kids. Four years ago we were able to understand what it means to service the women’s game as well and build true equity in how we do things, and now you see how it is represented in this eighth edition with the talented young women that we have out here. So we have created an expectation on what it means to be at the Curry Camp, and hopefully we are around for the long run.