Stephen Curry was already one of the best talents in the country when he was picked 7th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft. But he had no PR training, especially since he didn’t come from a big college program. However, Curry received some insight on how to talk to reporters from a veteran teammate in his rookie season.
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Back in 2020, Curry appeared on the All The Smoke podcast and discussed some past memories with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. While Stack expressed his regret for leaving the Warriors just after Curry arrived, Steph revealed how his former teammate talking smack to a reporter back in the day gave him some tips on how to handle the media in the league.
“My favorite Stack story. This is probably two weeks before you got traded and we were on a road trip in Indiana. There were like seven of us went to, I think, a steakhouse right down the street from the hotel. The day before, somebody had started rumblings about your trade rumors and this and that and you were unhappy.”
Curry is referring to Jackson’s trade to the Charlotte Bobcats in 2009, the year he joined the Warriors. Jackson was not happy with reporters circulating stories of him getting traded before the deal was finalized. Therefore, he lashed out at a reporter to show his discontentment.
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During his childhood, Curry traveled with his father on road trips and was around NBA players all the time. However, this was the first time he experienced something like this as a player himself. He said,
“And I remember sitting at the dinner table and you [Stephen Jackson] called up this reporter and cussed him out so bad for writing some untrue, truthful article. And I’m sitting there like, ‘This how we do? This how we do it.’ I was crying, man.”
This was something Jackson brought up even before Curry shared his favorite ‘Stack story.’ Jackson was upset with The Chef for not letting him know what he had in store for the Warriors in the coming years.
Even though Barnes, Jackson, and Curry all laughed over it, Stack meant what he said. Stack Jack mentioned how he would’ve had bling on his fingers, indicating multiple championship rings, only if Curry had let him know about his plans for the franchise going forward.
