Decades before Stephen Curry embarked on an NBA career that would rank among the best, he was only known as the son of an NBA star and was babysat by his father’s teammates. Ahead of the release of his memoir, ‘It’s Hard for Me to Live with Me,’ former NBA player Rex Chapman recalled spending time with Dell Curry and Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history, on the Charlotte Hornets in the late 1980s.
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In an interview with CBS Saturday Morning, Chapman reminisced about the time the quartet traveled together in a car and said,
“I was never around babies. And Steph was a baby, baby. You know, he was in the bassinet, in the car seat, and all that. I think there’s a point in the book where I said, you know, the baby in the car seat was the best player of the three of us (Curry, Chapman, and Bogues)… The best one is in the car seat and I don’t mean Muggsy.”
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Dell Curry and Chapman were teammates for four years between 1988 and 1992. They were also neighbors in Charlotte, and 21-year-old Chapman had to often babysit Steph. During an appearance on the Runnin’ Plays podcast, he said,
“Stephen was born my rookie year. They lived two doors down and Sonya and Dell used to bring Stephen over to my place, leave him with me for a couple hours while they’d go to a movie.”
Chapman left the Hornets in 1992 and joined the Washington Bullets, ending his babysitting duties. He holds fond memories of his time in Charlotte and his friendship with Dell Curry, which he has written about in detail in his memoir set to release next week.
Dell Curry on realizing his son Stephen would make it in the NBA
Only a handful of former NBA players have had the privilege of watching their sons blossom into superstars. Dell Curry is not only among the handful, he’s the only former NBA player to see his son win the MVP award unanimously and become a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Dell was unsure about his son’s NBA prospects. During an appearance on the Rex Chapman Show, he was when he knew Stephen would make it to the league. He said,
“It was after Stephen’s sophomore year in college. Freshman year, I’m like, ‘Yeah. He’s a pro player.’ But sometime in his sophomore year when they made that big run to the Elite 8, [I knew] he was gonna be a top top player and a top pick in the draft. Did I know he was gonna be two-time MVP, unanimous MVP? No. A lot of factors have to go into that. But I knew he had the skill set to play in the league and play well.”
After leading Davidson to a berth in the NCAA Tournament, Curry led to the Elite 8 with three magical performances against Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Wisconsin. He averaged 33.3 points in those three games to lead them to the quarterfinals. He scored 25 points against Kansas in Davidson’s Elite 8 battle, but they fell short. However, Curry and the team’s run to the Elite 8 is one of the greatest underdog stories in NCAA tournament history.
Curry spent another season in college and averaged 28.3 points before declaring for the 2009 NBA draft. The Warriors picked him seventh, and the rest is history.
