Unless you grew up an Indiana Pacers fan, Reggie Miller was, most likely, one of your most hated players. His brand of arrogant yet effective basketball drove a lot of people up the wall, and if you don’t believe me, just ask Dell Curry. Though the Charlotte Hornets’ sharpshooter was never in a serious rivalry with Miller, his sisters found the Pacers star arrogant during his playing days.
Advertisement
Dell revealed all in an episode of the Greatest of their Era Podcast, hosted by his son Seth. After recalling a story about Joe Dumars and his stoic personality, Dell claimed that Reggie was the exact opposite. He said that Reggie would start talking trash the moment he stepped off the team bus, and that drove a lot of people into disliking him.
He went on to reveal that his sisters were part of that group of people. “I had four sisters, they didn’t like him very much, just because of his cockiness, his attitude, his arrogance on the floor,” he said. “I’m the baby of the bunch, the youngest of five, so they were all like ‘Yo, you picking on my brother?'”
Of course, the desire to protect their baby brother from trash talk was a natural elder sister instinct, but Dell was surprised when he saw how they acted around Reggie at an All-Star Game. “They saw him in the back at the All-Star Game, they flipped the script, man!” he laughed. “Like, yo, this Reggie let’s get a picture, and I’m like what! Y’all talking all this trash and now you want a picture?”
Trash talkers are usually tough to play against as is, but Reggie was on a different level. I mean it takes a certain amount of nerve to talk trash to Michael Jordan, and then shove him off while nailing a game winner in his face.
It seems like Steph Curry took after Reggie more than his own father as the Warriors star is an avid trashtalker, despite how he may seem. Damion Lee, Steph’s brother in law, detailed his experience playing against Curry and it sounds oddly like how Dell described his run ins with Miller.
Still, whether you talk or stay quiet, the main thing that matters is your on court play, and both Dell and Reggie certainly earned their reputations there.
