Michael Jordan has the shrug, LeBron James has the silencer, and Stephen Curry has the night-night. Iconic superstars create iconic celebrations and none have been as mimicked as Curry’s newest addition.
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The two-time MVP introduced the celebration during the 2022 NBA Playoffs. “I was talking to myself, like ‘We gotta finish it. We gotta put this to bed. We gotta put them to sleep.’ And I made a layup and I did it to myself and didn’t realize it was kind of a thing,” he revealed about its origin.
Since then, even soccer legend Lionel Messi has taken a crack at the celebration, marking its surge in popularity across the globe. Recently, it was mimicked by Curry’s own teammate during the Warriors’ 97-94 win against the New York Knicks on Saturday.
After putting his team up by 6 in the final 25 seconds, Draymond Green pulled out the ‘night-night’ celebration. During the post-game press conference, Steph was asked to rate Draymond’s iteration and he shared a thorough review.
“I did know he’s evolved his version of it since the Minnesota game earlier in the year. He’s softened it a little bit,” Curry remarked.
Green first pulled out the night-night on December 8th. He had similarly put the Warriors up by 6 with a late-game dagger dunk against Rudy Gobert when he debuted his version of the celebration. However, that emote would quickly make rounds online for looking like a comically pale imitation of Steph’s routine.
Moses Moody later joked that Draymond’s version was known as ‘the nightmare’ in Golden State’s locker room. That’s why Green should be delighted with Curry’s feedback on his latest celebration. The Chef acknowledged how hard his teammate had worked to perfect his craft since December.
“He’s brought it down to where a pillow is supposed to really be. I realized he does everything aggressive and with his whole body so, I’m giving that a solid A- effort on the ‘night-night’ tonight. That was beautiful,” the four-time NBA champion added.
"He's brought it down to where a pillow's supposed to be… I’m giving that a solid A- effort on the night-night tonight. That was beautiful."
Steph Curry on Draymond Green’s celly 😅
(via @KNBR)pic.twitter.com/pSqJTcpdO6
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 16, 2025
Perhaps Curry knows just how much flak Green received when he first tried the celebration in-game. Even their former teammate Kevin Durant had to step in and tell the former Defensive Player of the Year to calm down. On his podcast, Draymond revealed Durant’s text to him after the game against Minnesota.
“KD texted me last night. The first text I saw was K saying, ‘Yo, you a fool for running down the court, full speed doing night night.’”
The four-time All-Star also explained how he got carried away with his excitement in the moment. “Bro, I had blacked out,” he justified.
Good on Draymond for maintaining his composure this time around. It’s not often we see the two-way wing hit daggers late in a clutch game but now fans know what to expect when that rare moment does pop up; an A- iteration of Stephen Curry’s iconic night-night celebration.
