Stephen Curry Reveals His Favorite In-Game 'Compliment' From Defenders Struggling to Guard Him

“Somebody guarding me at a free-throw dead ball or something. We stand next to each other, come and be like, ‘Yo, stop moving so much.’ Or ask me like, ‘Yo, can I work out with you this time? I need to know what you be doing.’ So I kind of understood it was a difference maker.”

After minutes of fighting through a maze of off-ball screens, defenders usually reach a breaking point. By the time a defender asks for your workout routine while the game is still happening, you’ve already won the mental battle. Curry realized early on that while he couldn’t always be the biggest or strongest, he could be the most relentless.

The 12-time NBA All-Star added that no matter how grueling the recovery cycles might feel sometimes, the court remains his happy place.

Steph Curry Leads the Warriors’ Long Injury List

The Golden State Warriors are currently struggling with a season from hell regarding roster health. Though Curry anticipate the team to sign some exciting pieces by next summer, nothing seems to be working as of now.

However, ahead of their Sunday’s game against the New York Knicks, the infirmary is more crowded than the active bench. As of mid-March, Golden State has roughly $193.5 million in player salaries sitting in street clothes, 93% of the team’s total payroll.

The bleeding starts at the very top of the ledger. The Warriors’ two highest-paid stars, Stephen Curry ($59.6M) and Jimmy Butler ($54.1M), account for over $113 million of inactive cap space on their own. teph hasn’t touched the floor since January 30 due to a calf injury. After missing 16 consecutive games, the team will re-evaluate him on March 21. 

Butler’s season ended abruptly on January 19 with a torn ACL. The trade-deadline acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis was there to stabilize the frontcourt, but his $30.7 million salary has produced only four games of action due to a lingering, undisclosed illness. 

Add in Draymond Green ($25.8M), who continues to battle injury setbacks, and rotation pieces like Moses Moody ($11.5M) and Al Horford ($5.6M), and the Warriors are effectively playing with a G-League roster wearing NBA jerseys.