Golden State guard Stephen Curry knew his chances of competing in his first Olympics were running out, so he and his wife, Ayesha, planned for months how they would make the Paris Games for their family. I started doing it.
In other words, their growing family.
Ayesha Curry revealed in March that she is pregnant with the couple's fourth child and is due to give birth in June. That's not entirely a coincidence. The couple wanted to leave the Olympic period in July and August open, just in case, so they considered this in advance.
“I thought about it beforehand, which was good,” Curry said. “If the timing hadn't been right one fall month, I would have actually made a different decision knowing that the Olympics were in the spotlight. So, thankfully, the Lord cares for us. So if everything goes according to plan, we will be ready this summer.”
That's exactly the plan. Curry was one of 12 names officially announced by USA Basketball on Wednesday for the initial roster for this year's Paris Olympics. It's entirely possible that the roster will be adjusted between now and the first practice in early July, and injuries or a long playoff run could lead to changes, but Curry will be available for a while this summer. He was planning to make his Olympic debut.
“I wanted to play in the last two tournaments I was eligible for,” Curry said, referring to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Games, which were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. “To see all the guys I've played against over the last 10 years win gold medals with experience, and to see three of my teammates (Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green) win gold medals, When I saw it, I wanted to do the same.”
It would be logical to think that part of Curry's recruitment this time around was the fact that the Olympic team is coached by Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
Actually that wasn't the case. Curry has discussed teaming up with Durant and LeBron James. The negotiations were partially prompted by the U.S. taking a star-poor team to the World Cup in Manila last summer, where it finished fourth — but Kerr has been unable to match his best player to a World Cup appearance in Manila last summer. This year I didn't force him to play.
“He wanted to do it,” Kerr said. “He's excited. I think 2016 was the most meaningful year. In 2020, the pandemic happened. But I've never talked to him. Going to the finals is exhausting. And he did it in 2015 and 2016. And then 2021 came around, and there was a pandemic, and now it makes perfect sense. It's another box to check for his career. is.”
There aren't that many boxes left unchecked. And this may actually be the last thing left that matters.
He is the NBA's all-time 3-point record holder, 4-time NBA Champion, 10-time All-Star, 9-time All-NBA selection (probably soon to be 10), 2-time leading scorer, 2-time MVP, Finals MVP, He won All-Star MVP honors and is a member of the league's 75th anniversary team. He also helped create one of the most memorable moments in All-Star history this year. It's a 3-point contest with WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu, a man he mentors and someone he respects.
The heritage has been safe for a long time. But a little extra gold never hurts.
“That's the goal,” Curry said.
Curry and the Warriors won 46 games this season but did not advance to the NBA playoffs, losing 118-94 to Sacramento in the elimination game of the Western Conference play-in tournament on Tuesday. So the next time he's scheduled to actually play will be in July, when the U.S. national team convenes training camp in Las Vegas. The United States will open the Olympics against Serbia on July 28th.
Curry has played with “USA” on his chest many times over the past 17 years. He was on the under-19 team that won gold at the 2007 Global Games and silver at the U19 World Championships that year — “I was fired up by that,” Curry said, “in everything. I also hate losing.”
Since then, he has never lost a match with the national team, winning 18 games. The Americans won the gold medal at the 2010 World Championships (now called the World Cup) with a 9-0 record and again at the 2014 World Cup with a 9-0 record.
“I definitely wanted this experience,” Curry said of playing in the Olympics. “I think the timing is just right. I'm in the second half of my career. This is probably the last time I'll play. So that made it a lot easier to make the decision to say, 'This makes sense.' . And we knew this could be a great team because we were talking to other players who were interested in playing. ”
