Every player has a “Welcome to the NBA” moment, but going up against a star you idolize can be a completely different experience.
For older generations, it was the match against Michael Jordan. For the current generation, it’s the match against LeBron James. But for the older stars in today’s league, it’s the match against Kobe Bryant.
After Bryant died in a plane crash in 2020, many memories and stories about Black Mamba were revealed. In it, there are many from his colleagues in the NBA.
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry recently appeared on “Hot Ones” with Sean Evans, where he talked about three memorable experiences of himself playing against Bryant during his career.
Curry was suggested when Evans asked about the story of the nickname “Baby-Faced Assassin” Bryant gave himself. That opened the door for Curry to talk about Kobe.
Curry begins with a story from his five rookies. He recalled the moment Bryant showed respect for his match, something Curry didn’t realize until after the match was over.
“It was my rookie year and we were playing against the Lakers at home. I had some pretty cool pump fakes. When we were off the field, Bryant was interviewing. For some reason, Bryant relied on copper. the team next to him and say, ‘Yo, that guy’s great,'” Curry told Evans.
“It’s the silliest thing in the world. Kobe Bryant is praising me, at the first confrontation. That’s amazing.”
Curry doesn’t stop there. He went on to tell a story about the first time he saw Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” at close range as an opponent.
“The second time we played a game in pre-season and Bryant got into Mamba Mentality in the first half,” Curry began.
“You turn around and he’s like this [imitating Kobe’s signature intense facial expression]. He’s doing defensive moves, standing in front of me. I was like, ‘What’s going on? Kobe Bryant is so weird.
“So Bryant followed me for about four or five turns, then he bumped into me and I almost lost my balance. At this point, I was really suffocating. I was tired, trying to get back in shape for the rest of the game. a pre-season game, and he just went all out on defensive pressure and he was so much bigger and stronger than me, bumping into me and doing all that.
“So after I fell, I understood I had no choice, I just tried to throw the ball and learned to live with it. Then I tried to throw a shot from about 30 feet (about 9m1) and success, then I pretended to cool off. It’s something to be proud of hold on to that great moment because it’s Kobe, I just threw one from 30 feet in front of Kobe Bryant’, Curry laughing.
“He gave me a pat on the butt on the way back and I couldn’t even admit it, I just threw in once and Bryant acted like that. I came right back after halftime and told the crew, “I need that clip. Give me. I have to save it to my phone,'” Curry said with a laugh.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, found both videos Curry was talking about and paired them with the Twitter interview.