Andre Iguodala is perhaps the biggest Steph Curry stan on the planet. And as his teammate, Andre has seen the changes he’s wrought to the NBA.
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Most NBA fans believe that Iguodala winning the 2015 NBA Finals MVP was a major slight at Steph. After all, the 2014-15 MVP had finished the series averaging 24 points per game and shooting over 40% from 3.
Andre Iguodala has since then redoubled his public support for his precociously talented, one-of-a-kind teammate. He continues to maintain that his Finals MVP win was a huge surprise for him, in addition to being the wrong decision.
Wherever he appears in public and gives interviews, Iggy invariably has to answer some Steph-related questions. He takes pleasure in doing them, for it allows him to stan for his teammate in an unabashed fashion.
“When Steph Curry came in, he started laughing and shimmying and shooting from half-court”: Andre Iguodala
Andre Iguodala was recently in an interview with The Breakfast Club where he spoke about the profound effects of Steph blowing up and becoming a worldwide sensation in the style that he plays:
“I think he changed the game. You know, one thing he brought to the game was – you were looked at as soft if you had too much fun playing basketball.”
“People like Charles Barkley, Anthony Mason with the Knicks, Charles Oakley were looked at highly. It was a weakness if you smiling on the court. You had to be mean, like Pat Riley style basketball with New York.”
“And when Steph Curry came through, he started laughing, he started shimmying and shooting half-court. Now you’re seeing this trickle-down effect, you see Trae Young, you see Dame Lillard, you see Luka Doncic.”
“These dudes are shooting step-backs from halfcourt and everybody goes crazy. You see joy now, you can laugh and you can play. That’s like a generational effect that comes from one dude.”
Iguodala may be a tad too eager in praising Curry here. After all, Steph may have made it famous, but he’s hardly the first person to make basketball look fun. That was also something Magic Johnson and his Showtime Lakers did in their heyday, after all.