Stephen Curry shared many battles on the court with Kobe Bryant, but no memory resonates better with the two-time MVP than the time the Los Angeles Lakers great praised his game as a rookie, giving him all the validation he needed to spark his game, despite the many questions he faced after being drafted by the Golden State Warriors.
Curry recalls a clip in which Bryant was admiring his game:
“They panned to [Bryant] on the bench watching,” Curry recalled in a phone interview with Ben Golliver of The Washington Post on Tuesday. “He mouthed to whoever was sitting next to him, ‘Yo, he’s nice.’ I saw that clip afterward and I cracked a big smile knowing Kobe was impressed with what I was doing on the court as a rookie. That moment was invaluable in building my confidence. He was always great at validating the next generation of talent. Once he took an interest in you, you had to know you were doing something right.”
Kobe was known for bashing the ridiculous and only praising the great, which made that raw, uncut footage of Bryant praising Curry all the more important for a young player to gain confidence.
Support from the media is always nice, but to have the respect of his peers, including a late great in Kobe Bryant, likely meant the world to a young Curry, who was hoping to shake doubts about his size and position upon breaking into the NBA with the Warriors.
Needless to say, Stephen Curry shook those doubts.
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