Stephen Curry has been radiant during the 2024 Paris Olympics, perhaps because the last time he carried such a light load was during his mid-teen years. This is liberating, and he’s using the freedom to fill an intangible need for Team USA’s men’s basketball team.
The squad has an abundance of skill, plenty of shooting and defense, lots of length and intellect, and a coaching staff with a deep reservoir of expertise. Curry, the starting point guard, is in the middle of it all. His shooting can fracture defenses, scorch nets and thrill crowds. But his additional contribution is no less important.
Curry, competing in the Olympics for the first time, is bringing life and laughter to the roster. It is welcome.
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No team in Paris faces more pressure than Team USA’s men’s basketball. It is being hailed as the finest collection of talent in the world, comparable to the 1992 “Dream Team.” When Team USA, with a different roster, failed to medal in the FIBA World Cup last summer, that was a forgivable sin. It was, after all, the FIBA World Cup. And it was Steve Kerr’s maiden voyage as head coach in international competition.
The Olympics are a spectacle watched from every part of the globe, which is why Kerr’s roster is dramatically different from that which finished fourth last summer. Superstars LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Curry are on board. So are Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum. The only holdovers from last summer are young stars Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton.
America’s most accomplished NBA players are participating out of national pride. Everyone involved realizes coming home without a gold medal would haunt them for the rest of their days.
Curry, 36, is perceptive. Analytical. Strategic. With such a massive collection of massive egos assembling for a single purpose, and with exceedingly high stakes, he realizes the value of levity. Tight teams, regardless of talent, tend to struggle. Loose teams with talent that know when to sharpen focus tend to thrive.
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Remember the Warriors at their peak? When Kerr took over as head coach in 2014, he urged that joy be one of four principles – mindfulness, compassion and competition are the others – to guide them.
Before long, the Warriors were a choir, singing on the team charter. If Andrew Bogut wasn’t teasing Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa was peppering Klay Thompson with jokes. When David West and Durant joined the team in 2016, they were surprised to hear music thumping during practices. Rather than funereal silence in the gym – better to hear bellowing of coaches – players were getting 2Pac or the Isley Brothers.
That formula played a part in bringing unprecedented prosperity to the franchise, and nobody noticed more than Curry. It aligned with his personality, which leans much more toward silly than severe.
Kerr had a kindred spirit, and it happened to be his best player. In an interview a few years ago with the dean of medicine at Stanford University, Kerr expressed his good fortune.
“When you’re trying to inspire a group of people, it’s easy to have values or write slogans on the wall,” Kerr said. “But if those things don’t come to life, then they don’t mean anything.
“You have to hire people who embody those values, too. There’s never been a player in the NBA or any professional sport who embodies joy more than Steph Curry. So, if joy is one of my values, and I’ve got Steph Curry on my team, it’s pretty easy to make the team feel that joy every single day.”
Who better to bring that ingredient to Team USA than the man who has pranked dozens of Golden State teammates during his 15-year NBA career?
Curry in Paris is gleefully posing for photos with fellow Olympians and ordinary fans. He’s impishly trying to arrange a ping-pong battle between Edwards and members of the America’s table tennis queens. Curry is grinning and giggling while sitting at a podium with Durant – and contagious enough for KD to join in the chuckling.
And, of course, Curry is the guy hopping off the bench to wiggle and gesticulate and point – all with a smile – as a cheerleader for his teammates. If he senses any pressure being bottled, he’s doing his part to release it.
“The only pressure you feel is, including the exhibitions, it’s only an 11-game journey,” Curry told reporters at a news conference last week. “You’ve got to be able to adapt quickly. You’ve got to be able to bring your egos of who we are as individual players, but also let them go knowing it doesn't matter who's ‘the man’ scoring that particular night.
“When you're on the floor, you're asked to do a certain thing and do it to the best of your ability. Play with energy. As Team USA, if we do that usually good things happen.”
Every member of the 12-man team has an official role, but Curry is among the special few that also have an unofficial role beyond hoops. He’s promoting joy and laughter. There is no better antidote to pressure.
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