Subscribe
Follow Us
MENLO PARK, Calif. — When Stephen Curry joined Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics, he knew he needed to be the team's leader. Speaking exclusively to ClutchPoints, Curry's former Davidson coach Bob McKillop shared the story of one Team USA practice when he visited Curry — and what Curry believed their greatest challenge was to winning the gold medal.
In the summer of 2024, Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and others were all still learning how to play together. Before the Olympics began, Bob McKillop went to visit his former player and good friend at a Team USA practice.
McKillop immediately noticed one thing that separated Curry from his fellow All-Star teammates.
“[Steph] was diligent, detailed, incredibly sharp about the way he practiced, vis-a-vis his teammates who were great talents, but didn't have the same attention to detail that he has,” McKillop explained. “He then went and practiced by himself for 30 minutes, which he always does.”
McKillop then asked Curry about his thoughts on the newly formed Team USA. Steph responded with the one thing he was concerned about.
“[Curry] said, ‘My biggest challenge with all these great talents is that we gotta be a team, and I've gotta be a leader. And that's gonna be my objective: to be a leader of this team to the gold medal.'”
The former Davidson coach then pointed to their very next exhibition game against Canada. Curry didn't take the shots he would normally take. And when the Olympics started, McKillop saw the same trend.
“First five, six games, same experience. He was holding back … and it was impacting his shooting ability. He was not making the shots maybe because he didn't want to take the shot.”
But while he wasn't shooting well for most of the Olympics, there was one thing that McKillop noticed he was doing.
“He was more concerned about distributing the ball and being a great teammate,” McKillop pointed out. “If you had noticed during those games, he was on the bench cheering, he was patting guys on the butt, he was smiling. … His body language was effusive with the amount of joy he had.”
Curry's shooting finally came along in the semifinal game against Serbia. He dropped 36 points, including nine 3-pointers. It was the highest-scoring performance by a US Olympian since Carmelo Anthony's 37 points in 2012.
Then, in the final against France, Curry once again shouldered the load. He put up 24 points, including four 3-pointers in the closing minutes to clinch the gold medal.
STEPHEN CURRY.
OLYMPIC “NIGHT NIGHT” DAGGER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/bC3GERTfnl
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) August 10, 2024
Why did Steph wait so long to step up on the court? Coach McKillop already knew.
“Because they needed him. … That’s where he lived up to that judgment about, ‘I gotta make this a team and I gotta be a leader.’ And there it was, the defining moment.”
