F1 star Daniel Ricciardo is a man of many talents. Of course, apart from being excellent on the F1 tracks, Ricciardo is also skillful in a variety of different sports, with basketball being very high on that list. In fact, he even sank a half-court shot on camera two years ago, something that led to him calling out the NBA’s Stephen Curry.
Advertisement
Back in 2021, Daniel Ricciardo was in Phoenix and decided to spend his time catching a game of the Phoenix Suns. While receiving a tour, the athlete found himself on the Arizona side’s practice facility.
The eventual McLaren driver chose to show off some of his ball skills. Standing a couple of feet behind the half-court line, the Aussie dribbled the ball a few times before drilling the half-court shot. The then 31-year-old made sure that people knew that he hit the shot on his first try.
Ricciardo said, “We have witnesses! First shot!”
View this post on Instagram
The F1 decided to share this video with their audience on Twitter. However, their caption was different from what ‘The Honey Badger’ wrote. The federation called out Stephen Curry, someone who is well-known for hitting long-range shots. Hyping their star athlete, the F1 captioned the tweet:
“NO WAY NOT FROM THERE??!
Steph Curry, eat your heart out”
NO WAY NOT FROM THERE??!
Steph Curry, eat your heart out
@DanielRicciardo pic.twitter.com/f11EcxaRzC
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 4, 2021
Just to burst F1’s bubble, Steph Curry has been there and done that. Having drained six shots from beyond the 45-feet mark, the two-time NBA MVP now has the joint highest shots from beyond half-court in the history of the NBA. Recently having joined Jamal Crawford in the category, Curry has already hit six of these bombs from this range that is approximately 45 feet from the basket. And of course, this only counts for his attempts in the middle of NBA games.
It is important to note that Daniel was only joking around. That said, the F1 racer does need to be careful. Given the competitor Curry is, he could one day decide to compete against him and embarrass him, just to teach Ricciardo a lesson.
For those wondering though, Ricciardo’s shot isn’t any fluke. Back in 2018, the former Red Bull driver was in an open gym and got another video of him knocking down a half-court shot.
Daniel Ricciardo is a huge fan of the sport. Further, Stephen Curry is a huge inspiration for the motor-sport athlete considering his love for shots way beyond the three-point arc. So, all things considered, the racer does have a lot of respect for the NBA star. And it’s likely that the feeling is mutual going the other way as well.
Daniel Ricciardo once used Stephen Curry as an analogy
When not on the race tracks, Daniel Ricciardo loves living an adventurous life. In search of a thrill, Ricciardo often finds himself at the courtside seats for different NBA games.
Even though the eight-time race winner hasn’t explicitly admitted it, Stephen Curry has been his favorite NBA player. Apart from impersonating Curry by hitting shots from half-court, Ricciardo once used the Golden State Warriors superstar as an analogy.
Back in 2022, after the conclusion of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the McLaren driver was explaining the struggles and difficulties when the car was “porpoising”. Ricciardo tried explaining it better by drawing comparisons to Curry.
“It was, simply putting it, painful. It’s painful–but I guess like, unnatural. It’s literally like someone’s bouncing you like that, like a pro basketball player, when they get the ball really low. [It was like] being dribbled, being professionally dribbled by [NBA player] Stephen Curry or something,” said Ricciardo.
Other than being extremely talented in their respective sports, Daniel Ricciardo and Stephen Curry have too many traits in common. It would be entertaining for fans to witness the two comical personalities have a conversation. Hopefully, Ricciardo can catch one of the Golden State Warriors games during his next trip to the United States of America.