“You’re Gonna Save Me a Lot of Money”: When Ellen DeGeneres Found a Solution for Stephen Curry’s $75,000 Mouthguard Problem

Steph Curry is here to chew on his mouth guard and make threes. But he’s all out of mouth guards.

In 2016, Stephen Curry was ejected game six of the NBA Finals. He has been ejected a total of three times in his career. They were all for the same reason. In what has to be some sort of record, Curry has been fined $75,000 exclusively because of his penchant to throw his mouth guards.

If only someone could’ve seen this coming and prevented it, then Steph could have won those games and kept his reputation in tact. Except, someone did see it coming. That someone was Ellen DeGeneres.

In 2018, shortly before the All-Star game, Steph appeared on the Ellen Show with his wife, Ayesha. After a segment about cooking together, followed by a ridiculous attempt a teamwork in the kitchen, DeGeneres brought out mouth guards on an elastic band that would return when thrown, as such protecting Steph from negative consequences of his outbursts.

Curry laughed at the idea, admitting that it could be helpful. “You’re gonna save me a lot of money,” he joked. While the idea is functionally perfect, the NBA would not allow it.

In 2018, a media report claimed that one of Curry’s most commonly used model of mouthguards, which also had the Under Armor logo in it, was worth $25,000 a piece. No wonder why the Warriors star made that comment to DeGeneres.

Steph did not end up ever using DeGeneres’ invention though. He got into his habit since his college days in 2007 when he was hit on the face by Citadel’s Jon Brick while playing.

It’s fun to wonder what other solutions DeGeneres would find for some of the Warriors’ problems. Maybe it would come in the form of an unbreakable clipboard for coach Steve Kerr. Maybe it would be a microphone that doesn’t actually record for Draymond Green.

In an interview with Jimmy Kemmel in 2015, Curry said –

“I got elbowed in college my junior year and kind of busted my lip open. And so I wore a mouthpiece after that every single game. And then every year it’s kind of gotten farther and farther away from my teeth.

“I just chew on it like crazy. It kinda calms me down. Especially when I’m at the free-throw line, so I can kinda get in my rhythm.”

Curry is a genius when it comes to free throws and 3-pointers. But this habit is extremely controversial of his, since it is dangerous for his health due to the bacteria he has taken in over the years.

But Curry has now outgrown his need to throw them during games. Outside of a 2023 incident against the Memphis Grizzlies that saw him get himself kicked out with only 75 seconds remaining, Steph has kept himself, and his mouth piece, clean.