Sabrina Ionescu has two basketball-playing brothers: A twin by blood, and a big brother by bond.
Ionescu's twin, Eddy, just finished his redshirt junior season at the University of Oregon. She considers Warriors star Steph Curry, her favorite player growing up a Golden State fan in Walnut Creek, Calif., a sibling, too.
"It’s really crazy to think of, you know, I don’t really see him as a basketball player," Ionescu told NBC Sports Northwest's Dwight Jaynes in an interview published, fittingly, on Siblings Day. "I see him as a person and a friend, almost like a big brother. It’s been cool to see our relationship grow and continue to grow."
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Curry sat courtside at Stanford in February as Ionescu became the first basketball player in NCAA history to score 2,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds and dish 1,000 assists. The two practiced -- six feet apart, following social-distancing guidelines during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic -- in a private gym in the Bay Area on Wednesday, and Ionescu's "big brother" has taken pride in seeing her journey into becoming the top pick in the WNBA's 2020 draft.
"The competitive nature that she has, you can't teach that," Curry told Pac-12 Network's Kate Scott when Ionescu played Cal in February. "She could be blessed with all the talent in the world, but if she didn't have that, she wouldn't be who she was."
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Golden State Warriors
Ionescu's professional debut -- and Curry's return to the court -- will have to wait. The start of the WNBA season has been postponed, while the NBA season is indefinitely suspended because of the pandemic.
The two "siblings" will be cheering each other whenever basketball resumes.