Circling games on the Warriors’ schedule ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season seemed like a handful of obvious choices from afar.
Klay Thompson’s Chase Center return was the clear can’t-miss game. Draymond Green’s first time playing former Warrior Jordan Poole was sure to be entertaining, as was a battle against the defending champion Celtics in Boston. How Chris Paul would pair with Victor Wembanyama after one year in a Golden State jersey was bound to catch the attention of plenty, too.
Whenever Steph Curry and the Warriors face LeBron James, eyes will find a screen somehow. Same with games against Kevin Durant or Nikola Jokic, and it was imperative to see how the Warriors stacked against top teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and others as well.
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Matchups against two teams at the bottom of the standings, however, hold a special place of significance to Curry this season. Trips to Charlotte and Toronto will mean as much as any highly-anticipated contest for Curry, and the reasoning is because of one number: 16.
The number represents how many seasons his father, Dell, played in the NBA. The number also now represents the number of years Curry has been in the association, with this being his Year 16, all in a Warriors jersey.
“Going to Charlotte and seeing him and playing as he's the color commentator for the Hornets, playing in front of him and probably playing against my brother, and then going to Toronto where he finished his career – those two games will be special to cap off that 16-year milestone, which is special for our whole family,” Curry said to NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest episode of Dubs Talk.
Cliches came from Curry early in his career whenever he faced a question of how he wants to be remembered. True Professional. Played the game the right way. Got the most out of my talent.
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The maxims were predictable. The truth lied in emulating the man he always looked up to. Long before dreaming of winning MVPs, NBA championships or any of the ways he has changed the game and re-written records, Curry was laser-focused on the longevity of playing 16 seasons in the league.
Both Dell and Steph remember those conversations starting essentially right as it became obvious Curry was going to turn pro, with son letting father know he was coming for his accomplishments.
“I’d be like, ‘Hey, how long do you think you’re going to play? What’s your goals?’ And he be like, ‘I’m trying to get to where you were, pops.’ His whole career has been really meaningful,” Dell said to NBC Sports Bay Area in a phone conversation. “I know how hard it is to get to the league and stay and make a career. There’s very few guys who have played that many years, and even fewer than that who are at the level he’s still at in Year 16.”
The Warriors play the Hornets at Chase Center on Feb. 25, and then travel to Curry’s hometown Charlotte six days later to again face the team Dell spent 10 years playing for. Dell now is in his 15th season as a Hornets color commentator, and his younger son, Seth, is in his first full season playing for Charlotte after being traded to the team in February and re-signing with them on a one-year contract in July.
Seth played 24 minutes last season in the Hornets’ one trip to San Francisco last season, but was hurt for the Warriors’ road game in Charlotte.
Calling a game for either one of his sons always is special, better yet surreal. A dream come true for 48 minutes. Assuming both are healthy for their games against each other this go around, Dell admittedly will enjoy a pinch-me moment or two.
“I knew watching [Steph’s] career earlier that if he still had the will to play he could make it to Year 16,” Dell says. “It’ll be special being able to call that game when we go there and they come here. Any time both of your sons are on the court playing and I’m on the broadcast for the call and we’re all involved – not many dads, if any, have been able to do that.”
Six weeks prior to playing the Hornets, Curry and the Warriors head north for their only game in Toronto this season. His connection to Charlotte is obvious, much more than Curry’s ties to Toronto.
But that’s where Dell played his final three seasons in the NBA. Steph still vividly remembers those years, especially his father’s second-to-last season when the Raptors won a then-franchise record 47 games and took the Philadelphia 76ers, who played in the Finals later that year, to seven games in the conference semifinals.
“I was 11, turning 12 that year, and the idea of him playing against the Sixers in the playoffs and just the whole hype of Toronto Raptors basketball, it's a very iconic moment in my mind,” Curry recalls.
The first Curry to strike fear in defenders’ eyes from long distance is best known as a Hornet for his playing career, where Dell was named 1993-94 Sixth Man of the Year and finished in the top seven of voting for the award in five straight seasons. Charlotte is home for Steph, and his first preview of his future.
Those three years in Toronto, they saw Steph’s future. His father believes that’s when it truly became real to him what he was destined to be.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Growing up around the Hornets in this environment, and then one year in Milwaukee, but coming to Toronto for three years and getting to experience a different culture, a different organization, and the freshness and newness of basketball in that country. And then him living there and playing in the city of Toronto for that one year, it really solidified that’s what he wanted to do is play basketball.
“Being around two different cultures growing up, and getting to experience what he experienced in Toronto I think it helped pave the way to where he is now.”
Where he is now is a tier only a few can say they reside. The greats, you know them. Curry is in their category. At 36 years old, he’s still atop his peers in a young man’s game. All he has done to start the season is carry the torch he still has lit from Paris to San Francisco and the rest of the Warriors’ map.
For all 54 games Dell played at 37 in his 16th and final season, his back ached, croaked and crumbled. Offseason preparation became a grueling grind he wished to avoid. It was time.
Steph will be 40 when his contract ends. He’s closer to the end than the beginning. Thinking about the former only feels unfathomable.
“I think as long as he still has the competitive fire to play, still has the competitive juices to get ready for a season,” Dell says of Steph’s future. “I think being able to go out on his own accord, but still having the opportunity to play into his late thirties, early forties, that would be amazing.”