In the NBA, every player eventually gets called by one name that sticks for their entire career. However, in the case of Stephen Curry, three names were juggled around. The Golden State Warriors superstar is often referred to by ‘Stephen’ or ‘Steph’. His real name, though, is neither of those. It’s Wardell! As a guest on the ‘Beyond the Fairway’ podcast, the four-time champion discussed the significance of each name. This is something NBC further discussed.
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According to the player, it started with ‘Stephen’ in college and continued before his Davidson coach Bob McKillop, referred to him as ‘Steph’. When he entered the NBA, it was again Stephen to begin with, but as seasons went by, it slowly moved to ‘Steph’ again. As far as ‘Wardell’ goes, it is reserved for a certain group of people who know Curry really well and have the green light to mess with him.
After 14 years in the league, it looks like ‘Steph’ is starting to separate itself from the pack. Media analysts, commentators, and fans have all gotten used to calling the player ‘Steph’. As one of the most beloved athletes in the world, he really doesn’t mind being called either and accepts all the love he can get.
Stephen Curry talks about his different names
Wardell Stephen ‘Steph’ Curry II is the full name of the most prolific shooter to play in the history of the NBA. Now, it is impossible to say all those syllables every time you want to address the player. So, people around him started referring him to what they felt was most comfortable. The two names that stood out were ‘Stephen’ and ‘Steph’. In an article by ‘NBC Sports Bay Area‘, the writer describes the meaning each name holds in the words of the NBA player.
“”I think Stephen was always the go-to until I got to college,” Curry told Will Lowery and Doug Smith on this week’s “Beyond the Fairway” podcast ahead of the Masters. “And then my college coach at Davidson, Bob McKillop, he, for some reason, I don’t know if it was he got tired of calling my name my freshman year because I was making so many mistakes, he just kept saying ‘Steph.’ So that kind of stuck.””
The player got the name ‘Steph’ through his college coach – Bob McKillop. According to Curry, it might have had to do with the fatigue of calling ‘Stephen’ every time the young player was to be yelled at. Since then, ‘Steph’ has slowly found its way to the top of the list. The NBA commissioner at the time, David Stern, introduced Curry to the NBA by calling him ‘Stephen’ during the 2009 draft night. However, his successor – Adam Silver, preferred ‘Steph’, while handing him his 2016 NBA MVP award.
Since then, the rise of ‘Steph’ on Google has increased when compared to ‘Stephen’. According to the data, between 2009 and 2017, ‘Stephen Curry’ was the most searched phrase for the Warrior’s point guard on Google search. Now, ‘Steph’ has taken over the search phrases and is likely to be the one that sticks till the end.
What about his real first name – Wardell? Admittedly, that’s a whole other story.
Curry’s reactions to being called ‘Wardell’
Only the die-hard Stephen Curry fans might know that his actual first name is ‘Wardell’. And we can’t blame them. The name is not thrown around in conversations. Only a few privileged people, if any, can muster the courage to call him ‘Wardell’. Here is an excerpt from the article where Curry speaks about his real name:
“If you really, really know me, and you want to get under my skin a little bit, you go with Wardell. So there’s three options there. There’s Stephen, which is — I kind of know what the relationship is. If you go Wardell, that means we go way back.”
The above response from Curry says it all. It is reserved for the two-time MVP’s closest friends. And even they use it only if they want to mess around with him. In 2021, a news reporter dared to use ‘Wardell’ during a press conference. The reaction from Curry was hilarious. Here is a tweet by ‘Rachel Nichols’ of the moment:
Steph’s reaction after being called Wardell by @ThompsonScribe
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/NG5tgAcfYI— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) January 22, 2021
The fans also had a field day on Twitter as they trolled the player on the reaction.
I’m sure Steph being referred to as Wardell is a trigger for him. We know when he got in trouble as a kid, Sonya Curry said “Wardell, you better stop!” 😂 https://t.co/OrQP2LyIzX
— Camron Smith (@camronsmith) January 21, 2021
Steph must have trauma from hearing “Wardell” from his parents when he was in trouble. 😂 https://t.co/sprzvaApVB
— Josh Ong (@beijingdou) January 21, 2021
The fans believed being called ‘Wardell’ brought back childhood memories for the NBA superstar. Most of them felt that Curry re-lived the trauma of being yelled at by his parents when he was a kid. Whatever the reason, no one has referred to him as ‘Wardell’ since then.
