Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry go way back. As it turns out, these two superstars had their basketball careers intertwined at such a young age. As a matter of fact, the Brooklyn Nets star almost ended Curry's career as an 11-year-old.
In his recently published book, Can't Knock the Hustle, acclaimed author and NBA insider Matt Sulivan shares a brief snippet of how KD was once instructed by his AAU coach to bully Steph on the basketball court:
In all the many chronicles of Kevin Durant, I do like this little story from my book (https://t.co/ZNyLbzFQGF):
10-year-old Kevin was playing 11-year-old Stephen Curry in a youth tournament.
KD’s coach yelled from the sideline: “Run his little ass into the bleachers!” pic.twitter.com/Ci9yCGsPTS
— Matt Sullivan (@sullduggery) June 19, 2021
That's not exactly the type of self-esteem-building advice a coach should give a pre-teen kid. Then again, this speaks volumes of the level of competition at that point in the careers of Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. They were two of the best players in the country at that time, and despite being so young, there was clearly a lot riding in those games.
Curry was a small kid, and KD's coach probably thought it was a good idea for Durant to impose his physical advantage over a diminutive Steph. It was not revealed how the contest turned out, but what is clear is that this did nothing to discourage Curry from eventually becoming the greatest shooter of all time.
Fast forward several years later and these two would eventually face off in the NBA. They even shared the court as teammates with the Golden State Warriors in what is considered to be the most successful era in franchise history. It's always fun to look back at these types of stories — notwithstanding the relatively violent nature of this particular narrative.
Follow Us
Subscribe