Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry and Under Armour have reportedly "nearly locked" down details for a lifetime endorsement contract that could be worth over $1 billion.

Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone reported Monday the extension talks with Curry, whose current deal runs through 2024, come despite some friction between the two-time NBA MVP and Under Armour founder Kevin Plank since he joined the brand in 2013.

"There wasn't quite an understanding of what it took to run a business like that properly," Curry said about the company's commitment to his signature shoe in the early stages. "So, yeah, I got mad."

Curry and Plank have also been at odds at times over the founder's public support of former President Donald Trump. While Plank told Sullivan there's "zero beef," the longtime Warriors cornerstone doesn't necessarily agree with that assessment.

"When you represent a company that big, you can't just fly by the seat of your pants," Curry said.

The eight-time All-Star added there were discussions about potentially leaving the company in 2018 before Under Armour agreed to separate the Curry Brand in a style similar to Nike's Jordan Brand.

"I don't have to raise my voice to get mad," Curry says. "That's the best part about it."

The fact he's discussed a lifetime deal with the company suggests the relationship has at least improved over the past four years since the individual brand was established.

Meanwhile, Curry helped lead the Warriors to their fourth championship since 2015 in June, and he captured his first Finals MVP Award in the process.

It came after another terrific regular season where he averaged 25.5 points, 6.3 assists, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 threes and 1.3 steals across 64 appearances.

A lucrative Under Armour extension would add to on-court earnings that have already topped $254.7 million as he gets ready to start a new four-year, $215.4 million contract with Golden State, per Spotrac.

Curry and the Warriors tip off the 2022-23 season Oct. 18 when they face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry told Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone that he wishes he would have refused to play 2014's Game 5 first-round playoff game against the Los Angeles Clippers after former Clippers governor Donald Sterling was heard on recordings released by TMZ Sports making racist remarks.

Curry said he chose to defer to the decision of Chris Paul and the other Clippers players, who wore warmup shirts with the logo inside out in protest and deposited them at center court before playing the game.

"One of my biggest regrets is not boycotting the game," Curry said. “That was a moment to leverage beyond anything we probably could have said."

NBA commissioner Adam Silver ultimately decided on a lifetime ban for Sterling.

Curry wasn't alone in wanting to boycott the game.

"I was all-in. Like shut down the whole season," Warriors forward Andre Iguodala told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne in 2019. "Maybe that was too far, but as far as that game that day, you can reschedule it, you gotta sort this thing out, because there's some deep-rooted stuff with him that had to be addressed."

The Sterling recordings and the wait for a response became a national story, with all eyes on how the players would handle the shocking news.

"We all have family, friends, people that we hadn't talked to in a while that were like, 'You guys cannot play!'" Jamal Crawford told Shelburne in 2019. "I remember Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest hit me and was like, 'You guys cannot play. This is bigger than you. It's so much bigger than you. You guys can really send a message.' I was like, 'Man, I hear where you're coming from.' But at that time, I didn't know what we were going to do."

A team refusing to play at that time would have been unprecedented. It had never happened before in the league, though it had come close in the past for a number of reasons.

Since that night in 2014, however, a team has refused to play. The Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic in 2020 in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The NBA, in response and solidarity, postponed the night's other two scheduled playoff games.

A lot took place between 2014 and 2020, including Colin Kaepernick's decision to kneel for the playing of the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial discrimination. Many athletes have used their platforms and power to fight for social change, especially in the wake of numerous police killings of Black men and women.

"All the ways that they want to nitpick what Colin's done, from the time he kneeled to now, you can't tell me that there hasn’t been progress and change and a renewed sense of accountability amongst a lot of athletes," Curry told Sullivan," like, 'Which side of the fence are you on? Are you doing something or not?'"

When the Brooklyn Nets were exploring potential trades for star forward Kevin Durant, many had wondered if the Golden State Warriors would be interested in a reunion with him.

Golden State star point guard Stephen Curry told Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone that the team would have welcomed Durant back, answering, "Hell, yeah!" when asked if it was ever under consideration this summer.

The Nets and Durant eventually reconciled and decided to forge ahead together. Curry said he would've had no issues if Golden State tried to convince Brooklyn to trade the 12-time All-Star.

"There was a conversation internally amongst us about 'If he was available, would you?' Every team has those conversations, and obviously in our situation, they’re gonna call me and ask me, 'How do you feel about it?' I was never hesitant," Curry explained. "The idea of playing with KD and knowing who he is as a person, from our history in those three years, I think KD’s a really good dude."

Durant starred for the Warriors from 2017 to 2019 and helped lead the team to two NBA championships and three straight NBA Finals appearances. He chose to sign with Brooklyn as a free agent, but his tenure with the team hasn't gone as he had hoped.

The Nets struggled through off-the-court turmoil last season and were swept out of the playoffs in the first round. The Warriors, on the other hand, went on to win their fourth NBA title in the last eight years, and Curry was named Finals MVP for the first time in his legendary career.

While Durant's trade request this offseason may have hurt his standing in the eyes of some people, Curry still supports his former teammate.

"I think he is misunderstood," Curry said. "I think he has had certain things happen in his life that hurt his ability to trust people around him, in a sense of making him feel safe at all times. So all of those things, I understand, having played with him and gotten to know him. I love that dude."

Stephen Curry said there's only one NBA team he'd like to play for if his tenure with the Golden State Warriors ever came to an end: the Charlotte Hornets.

Curry, who played high school basketball at Charlotte Christian School, made the declaration while receiving the key to the city of Charlotte on Thursday (via Andrei de Guzman of TalkBasket).

The four-time NBA champion reiterated his commitment to the Warriors, saying he's always wanted to "finish my career at Golden State because of how much it means, and the experiences and teammates and the journey we've been [on]," before discussing Charlotte.

"Everybody asks me, 'You wanna play one year for the Hornets and come back?' … I am not breaking any news right now, I'm not making any promises," Curry said. "All I would say is if there was a team that I did want to play for that was not named the Warriors, that would be it."

Along with his previous time in North Carolina, there are a few other reasons the future Hall of Famer could be interested in landing with the Hornets.

First, his father Dell played 10 seasons with the franchise (1988-98) during his own playing career, a move that happened shortly after Steph was born in Ohio in March 1988 while his dad was suiting up for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Second, NBA legend Michael Jordan is the majority owner of the Hornets. Curry recently explained how he tries to use the same leadership techniques as MJ did during his dynastic run with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s:

Yet, despite the connections to Charlotte, it's hard to imagine Curry moving on from the Warriors.

He's built a special environment in Golden State alongside longtime teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and it would be quite fitting if they play another handful of years together before walking off into the sunset.

Of course, the same thing was said about the San Antonio Spurs' legendary trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, but sometimes the off-ramp of a decorated career can get complicated.

Parker ultimately left San Antonio in 2018. Where did he play his final season? In Charlotte with the Hornets.

Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O'Neal paid Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry the ultimate compliment Thursday.

Speaking on The Big Podcast (h/t HoopsHype) with TNT colleague Kenny Smith, Shaq referred to Curry as the "best player in the world."

O'Neal explained his rationale behind the declaration, noting that greatness is primarily measured by winning championships:

"Yeah, by far. Hell yeah. As Kenny Smith would tell you, you can have a category, but the real ones are recognized by the championships that you have. Nobody plays better than Steph Curry. He's a tough shot-taker, tough shot-maker. I like where he's brought his career."

Shaq has long spoken highly of Curry. A couple of months ago, he put Steph among the top 10 players in NBA history and called him the greatest shooter of all time.

Thirteen years into his career, Curry is the all-time NBA leader in three-pointers made with 3,117. He also boasts career averages of 24.3 points, 6.5 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 3.8 three-pointers made and 1.7 steals per game.

Curry is an eight-time All-Star and two-time NBA MVP, but most importantly, he has won four NBA championships, and he finally became an NBA Finals MVP last season when the Dubs took down the Boston Celtics.

Strong arguments can be made for the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the best player in the game today, but it is tough to argue against Curry averaging 27.4 points per game in the playoffs en route to a championship last season.

Shaq is a four-time NBA champion and three-time NBA Finals MVP in his own right, and Curry is just one title away from surpassing one of the most decorated champions in NBA history.

The Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies are headed for a Christmas Day rematch following their contentious Western Conference Semifinal series, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.

Stein reported Saturday the teams are tentatively slotted into one of the biggest days during the NBA's regular season.

The Warriors knocked the Grizzlies out in the semifinals en route to the first title of their dynastic run in 2014-15. The style clash between the two franchises lent a different feel to their head-to-head meetings.

But it wasn't until the 2022 postseason that Golden State and Memphis could be plausibly deemed rivals.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr asserted Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks "broke the code" on a hard foul that resulted in a fractured elbow for Gary Payton II.

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins then questioned Jordan Poole's culpability when Ja Morant suffered a bone bruise in his knee that knocked him out for the series.

The Grizzlies only lost Game 4 by three points without Morant and won Game 5 by 39 points. With Morant healthy, maybe they wind up knocking out the eventual NBA champions.

Warriors star Draymond Green reflected after the series that Memphis' roster "can be really special," per The Athletic's Sam Amick:

The only thing I can do is give my respect to that team; they earned that. You know, there was a lot of talk in this series of fouls and this and that, and this should be reviewed and that should be reviewed. I think it really started to take away from what was a really great, great, series with two amazing teams.

A war of words continued well after the conference semifinals.

Basking in the Warriors' NBA Finals win, Klay Thompson called Jaren Jackson Jr. a "bum" and a clown" after Jackson mocked the team's "Strength in Numbers" rallying cry earlier in the year.

That prompted a response from Morant, which drew a reply from Green.

The Grizzlies' swagger was their signature characteristic as they posted the NBA's second-best record (56-26) in 2021-22. That makes them a great foil for a team as accomplished as the Warriors are.

Facing off on Christmas Day is a sign of how important Golden State vs. Memphis has become in a short amount of time.

Dell Curry knew his son would become an All-Star.

"Once he got through the first cycle of injuries, I definitely knew he could be an All-Star," the former NBA player told NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole (h/t colleague Jarrod Castillo) when discussing Stephen.

The Davidson product dealt with ankle concerns early in his career and was limited to just 26 games during the 2011-12 season.

However, Dell said his son's "I've arrived in the NBA moment" came in 2013 when he dropped 54 points in a road game against the New York Knicks.

"To do it in Madison Square Garden, it was just surreal," Dell recalled. "A handful of guys have scored 50-plus in that type of atmosphere ... that's a tough atmosphere to play in."

It turns out merely expecting Stephen to be an All-Star was underselling it. He is one of the best guards in NBA history with a resume that includes four championships, two league MVPs, an NBA Finals MVP, two scoring titles, eight All-NBA selections and eight All-Star nods.

Nobody in NBA history has made more three-pointers than Curry, and he revolutionized the way the game is played in the space-and-pace era.

It wouldn't be shocking if he added a fifth championship next season if he stays healthy and continues to play at an elevated level after leading the Warriors to a Finals win over the Boston Celtics this past season.