Stephen Curry is considered the greatest shooter the game of basketball has ever seen. The Chef not only has made the most 3-pointers in NBA history, but he’s also done it shooting an incredible 42.3% over his historic 16 seasons of play. Where did he learn to be such a game-changing shooter? From comedian Katt Williams…according to Williams.
Advertisement
Katt has been pretty vocal about this before. He once recalled advice that he gave to Steph after watching him dominate at a celebrity basketball fundraiser game. In said game, Curry dropped a staggering 40 points by showing off his long range shooting ability. “If you take your game to the NBA, they’re gonna have to change something, or you’re gonna be the greatest shooter that ever existed,” Williams claimed he told Steph.
Whether the famed comedian’s words were actually what inspired Curry will never be known, but that’s how the legend goes. The Chef has since become a four-time NBA Champion, a two-time MVP, an Olympic Medal winner, and an 11-time All-Star. It’s safe to say that he’s had a remarkably successful career.
But now Williams is doubling down. The iconic 53-year-old funny man was a recent guest on Carmelo Anthony’s 7PM In Brooklyn podcast to speak about his “inspirational words” to Curry. That said, he does credit the actual influence in Steph’s life, his father, Dell Curry.
“His father was already a great shooter. I didn’t go to college, he knew how to play basketball. I’m saying, I was explaining to him that the way I play basketball is there’s no such thing as I’m not open. ***** I’m always open,” Katt barked while the entire panel laughed.
“When I play basketball I’m going to all five spots every time. If you notice that’s how Steph play because if you play like that you are always open,” he added. “So if I’m always open I can always get my shot off.”
The charm of Katt Williams is that it’s hard to tell whether he’s joking or shooting some hard truths. But you don’t really care to question it. Because either he’s telling you a great story or a great joke. Both work for most people.
Funny thing is that Katt later in the interview claimed he helped another NBA star play the game of b-ball. “I taught Javale Mcgee how to play basketball, that’s why he can’t play good above the rim because I couldn’t show him that when I taught him, he was 5’5″ just like me. That’s why he can play little man ball being that big.”
While McGee doesn’t have the same career that Curry has had, he does share a common similarity. They were both educated in the game of ball by the one and only, Katt Williams.
Curry once revealed why he’s found so much success as a long-ball threat
All kidding aside, Steph Curry forever altered the way NBA defensives need to scheme against elite shooters. But despite several other players becoming dangerous from behind the arc, there will forever only be one true God of the skill, and The Chef is that man.
How does he do it? How did he become the first NBA player to ever hit more than 4,000 three-pointers? One word. Balance.
“If I’m in balance, and that can mean a lot of different things,” said Curry in a 2023 interview with NBC Sports. “I can be moving right, left, forward, backward, one foot, two feet, whatever it is. There’s a feeling of balance that no matter how many times I’ve been in the gym shooting any type of shot or envisioning a game kind of unfolding with your mental process and all that.”
“Like I can feel when I’m in balance. And when I feel like I’m in balance, I feel like I’m never going to miss. You try to keep it really simple,” he added. “Muscle memory and mechanics take over. All I’m thinking about right before I shoot is can I get into the proper balance and then [go] from there.”
It’s always fun to hear how an athlete really finds their groove, but I don’t think anyone has ever put it so eloquently. Life itself is a game of staying on balance, yet Steph makes everything he does seem like he’s floating on air. It’s proof that true magic exists. You just have to know how to transfer it from one foot to the other.
