Stephen Curry may be on the Mount Rushmore of NBA players who forever changed the game, but it’s important to know that he was raised in a basketball household. His father, Dell Curry, was an NBA veteran and a 1996 Sixth Man of the Year award winner. The dude could ball.
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So when Dell made an appearance on the G.O.T.E. podcast to discuss some of his days in the league, of course he mentioned some of his greatest rivals. One name in particular stood out in Dell’s memory.
“The guy who was in my draft class, Ron Harper,” said the now 60-year-old. “Played against him in college. High draft pick. I really liked going against him.”
Johnny Newman was another guy who Mr. Curry considered to be someone he would butt heads with, but it was obvious he was just searching for another name. Harper, who famously played with Michael Jordan on the Bulls and won five NBA Championships himself, was his true arch-nemesis.
“But Ron Harper was the one guy who was tough to guard,” Dell recalled. “Didn’t shoot a lot of threes but he could make some threes. He was long. Lanky, could get to the rim. Really good post player as well.”
It’s always fun to hear players from the past bring up stories like this, especially in an era where social media wasn’t around. There was nothing that really tied these two guys together other than the fact that they played in the same time frame. No public beef. No poor take posts on X (fka Twitter).
Dell may not have ever won the big one during his stint in the NBA, but he must certainly be living vicariously through his son. Steph is a four-time NBA Champion, an Olympic Gold Medal winner as a member of the 2024 Team USA squad, and arguably the greatest shooter the game has ever seen.
The real question is whether or not Harper sees Curry the same way. Considering his championship triumphs and his larger public persona, most likely not. But you never know who could be on someone’s bad side. Who could be the Joker to a player’s Batman? That is one of the greatest mysteries of the ball. Sometimes you just end up on a hit list.
