Through 15-plus seasons in the NBA, Stephen Curry has collected enough trophies, plaques, medals, jewelry and keepsakes to fill a wholesale warehouse. His Golden State Warriors career is full, yet there is one more box he wants to check.
And it’s one he already has checked not once or twice or three times.
Even after four NBA championships, satisfying as they are, Curry yearns for a fifth ring.
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“Honestly, it’s the only thing I'm really playing for at this point,” Curry said on the NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Dubs Talk,” which debuted Wednesday. “It's the only thing that matters in the sense of accomplishment.”
There are other career goals, some personal and some for bragging rights to burnish his Hall of Fame bio. So, it’s not exactly championship or agony. At age 36, basketball remains, outside Curry’s wife and four children, a gratifying experience.
“I still love to play the game,” Curry said. “I still love to come to work every day. Basketball is still fun for me. The challenge of trying to figure out how to win on a nightly basis, I still get up for it.”
Proof of that can be found in Curry’s statistics through the first 10 games. He’s averaging 23.0 points per game, shooting 47.9 percent from the field, including 42.7 percent beyond the arc. The Warriors rank dead last in the NBA in free-throw percentage, but Curry stands apart, shooting 94.3 percent from the line.
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Curry, the reigning NBA Clutch Player of the Year, continues to weave late-game magic. When the Warriors were fading in the fourth quarter at Oklahoma City on Nov. 10, Curry rescued them by scoring eight of their 11 points over the final 3:23.
Two days later, with Golden State trailing the Dallas Mavericks by six (114-108) and a little more than three minutes left, Curry secured the victory by scoring his team’s last 12 points.
Such heroics partially illustrate Curry’s thirst for a fifth championship ring to go with those he earned in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. Another ring, and maybe another Finals MVP trophy, would remind all that he still can lead his team to a championship.
“There's so much more that's going on off the court that can try to drag you down a little bit or distract you,” Curry said. "Trying to battle that is great. The league has changed so much, and trying to reimagine how it would look for the Golden State Warriors in the 24-25 season to win a championship is totally different than even ’22. It's totally different than ’17 or ’18 or ’15.”
Different because Curry’s signature shot, the 3-pointer, has established its grip on the game of basketball, altering court geometry and becoming an essential element for most teams in the NBA. Different because seven of his 14 teammates weren’t with the Warriors when they last won a title.
Different because Curry’s longtime sidekick, Klay Thompson left the Warriors and now plays for the Mavericks – who happen to be defending Western Conference champs.
Curry has the remainder of this season and the next two to grab ring No. 5. Should the Warriors win another NBA Finals during those three years, it would conclude his least likely climb to the top.
Curry has built his career on achieving unlikely feats, perhaps none more becoming the first – and only – player to win the league’s MVP award by unanimous vote. Facing doubters from high school and college and well into his NBA career, he’d love to wave another ring in the faces of skeptics.
He knows a fifth ring would put him on the same level as Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Magic Johnson.
“All that goes into the obsession of trying to be the best basketball player that I can be,” Curry said, “and trying to lift my team up and have them lift me up to be able to be relevant in that conversation.
“And then, obviously, in the historical realm of basketball, there is another level. You talk about five-time champions and beyond that. It's a good place to start from, but I definitely want to get greedy.”