Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry would definitely not have made it to the heights he has without his mom, Sonya. The four-time NBA champion has acknowledged it himself. Sonya was his source of discipline and faith, which she used to mold him into one of the greatest basketball players of all time and a responsible, empathetic human being.
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In 2018, Sonya joined TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones to discuss all things Curry, from recognizing the talent of her sons Seth and Steph to making them do chores before playing ball.
“It’s not my job to do everything for everybody … You had to train them to understand that … God first, family second and for them, school was next,” she said. Sonya didn’t let any insubordination slide either. Talking about herself as a strict parent, she admitted, “I say I wasn’t that bad, but I was pretty bad.”
As far as basketball was concerned, Sonya claimed, as a family, it wasn’t top on their list of priorities, but the kids did love a good game.
“We never pushed sports on them. They knew the game; they watched the game. They were children who went to the games, sat and watched. They weren’t running around, weren’t worried about refreshments and things like that. They watched games at home … So they were students of the game,” Sonya explained.
Sonya, however, began to notice just how good Steph was during his junior year of high school. She told Jones, “Right before he went pro, I was still asking his coach, Coach McKillip, ‘Are you sure he can do this?’ Because a lot of children say they want to aspire to be NBA players, but we see how many never do.”
“Most times it’s because they think … they just expect that or they do want to aspire to be like their parents, and we didn’t want to set that. Dell didn’t want to set that expectation from them,” explained Sonya.
“Find your purpose” was the mantra in the Curry household. Sonya also fondly recalls the old days when Seth and Steph would go hooping. It was much easier for her when they were playing on the same team. But, nowadays, when they go against each other, she says she can’t help but root for Seth because she remembers how Steph used to set him up.
Not that having his mom root against him affected Steph’s game in any way, but it does appear to have prepared him for the harshness of the world. In the 16 years he has spent with the Warriors, Steph has led earned countless accolades and led the team to NBA championships. As veteran basketball scribe Marc J. Spears succinctly put it, “Steph united the Bay.”
This took some time, though. When Steph got his first big contract the season after his rookie year, everybody made fun of the Warriors for massively overpaying him. GS did not have a great track record of winning, and Curry hadn’t proven himself yet, but his presence on the team changed everything.
Curry managed to lead the team into becoming something special alongside Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, and in doing so, he brought the community together.
Unfortunately, Steph’s many triumphs don’t seem to have been enough. Always at a disadvantage with critics, Curry now finds himself excluded from Shaquille O’Neal’s list of top-10 NBA players of all time. But it’s okay, Steph Curry will keep doing what he does so well.
