Stephen Curry usually doesn’t say much. The Warriors’ superstar has made a career of being a silent killer. He is more likely to laugh and dance as a way to talk smack than to yell or get physical. His signature celebration move has now become the “Night-Night” where he silently motions going to bed.
We’ve only seen a few slips of composure throughout his career from the NBA’s favorite choir boy. Many fans remember when he threw his mouthguard in frustration during the NBA Finals, hitting the Cleveland Cavaliers owner’s son in the face. More recently he demonstratively yelled in the camera's face after hitting a game-winner against his former teammate Klay Thompson.
Curry is starting to get more comfortable expressing his excitement and frustrations. Regardless, on and off the court, Curry likes to lead by example, speak positively about opponents and teammates, and overall be a great guy. This is why it came as a surprise to some Warriors’ fans when Curry seemingly threw some shade at James Wiseman, the Warriors’ former number two overall pick.
Curry speaks out against Warriors' decisions
In an ESPN interview with Tim Keown Curry discussed the difficulties of the last few seasons. Curry was explaining how it has been difficult to compete, especially while navigating the “two-timeline” strategy the Warriors’ front office tried.
"I think the postmortem on some of the two-timeline stuff is not great," Curry said. "We picked Wiseman, who's had a rough go. It's not his fault, but we had an opportunity when we were at the bottom of the standings and had the No. 2 pick, and picked Wise."
Not only is it shocking for Curry to speak negatively against the choices of the organization, but speaking ill of a former teammate is usually not his style. To be fair to Curry, the Wiseman pick, and how long they held onto him, was a direct detriment to Curry’s chances at competing. Wiseman could have been traded for players more able to help Curry win now, instead, he was held onto as a project until his value was essentially nothing.
His quote is less of an indictment on who Wiseman is as a person and a player and more of a dig on the Warriors’ organizational decisions. Curry expressing his frustrations with the Warriors “two-timeline” strategy is significant. He doesn’t usually voice his opinion (negative ones at least) on front office decisions.
Curry’s candidness at this stage of his career is nice to see. The polished choir boy is now a man, and he wants to win. As long as the Warriors aren’t doing everything in their power to help him win another championship, Curry should keep voicing his frustrations. As for the stray that hit Wiseman, they say “You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.”