Stephen Curry offered his two cents ahead of his first matchup with Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. The Golden State Warriors point guard was asked about the rookie's struggles through the first quarter of the NBA season, which didn't surprise him at all.
“He's a rookie. He's going through the ups and downs like every rookie has, whether you're highly touted or not,” said Curry, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “It's all a learning experience, trying to find your way and be comfortable.”
“Basically my perception is he's working through that. I've always said he's a great talent, I think loves to play basketball, so he'll be able to fight through that and have a great career. Hope you didn't judge me off my first 20 games in the league, either.”
Ball and Curry's situation were very different, as Curry had to come off the bench through the first years of his career, establishing himself as the point guard of the future after the coaching staff saw his ability to play the position.
Ball has been the starter since day one and the expectations for him to be the next one coming to Magic Johnson have been unrelenting throughout the offseason and onward. That type of pressure is hard to shake off, especially in a market like Los Angeles.
The comments from his father LaVar are also not helping his situation, as he promised his son would be better than Curry, at the time the back-to-back MVP of the league — coming far from it with a ghastly 31 percent from the floor and 24,5 percent from deep, paling in comparison to Curry's 46.2 percent from the field and 43.7 percent from beyond the arc in his rookie season.
Asked if he would take any extra motivation from those comments, Curry said none was needed.
“Nah,” he said. “More comic relief for me. Need that from time to time.”