Klay Thompson (1:33)

Yeah, for sure. He's great. I like that guy.

Stephen Curry (1:35)

How do you. How do you do, little lady?

Klay Thompson (1:39)

Oh, he's hilarious.

Stephen Curry (1:41)

That is what sports is supposed to be about.

Klay Thompson (1:58)

What makes Steph the greatest shooter of all time? Besides them shits going in, obviously. Besides them shits going in. First of all, I told you this. I told him last time. I said, you're. Every time you shoot the ball, I think it's going in. Every time you shoot, I think it's going in every time still to this day. But his ability to be able to run pick and roll, play one on one, but more importantly, get off the ball as well, that makes him the greatest. Me and a few of our friends, we had a group chat. We was talking about Ohtani the other night, and one of our friends, he.

Stephen Curry (2:34)

Said.

Klay Thompson (2:37)

If I sent y' all a message and said that a guy struck out 10 batters in the NLCS, you guys would be like, oh, that was a hell of a game by that pitcher. Wow. And then if I sent a separate text and said in that same game, another guy came in and had three home runs in that same game. No. He said, no, the same guy did that. He did both of those.

Host/Interviewer (3:03)

Same game.

Klay Thompson (3:04)

He did both of those. So what makes Steph one of the most dangerous players of all time is the fact that you're going to get it in so many different ways. I'm going to come down to semi transition. If you don't pick, if your pickup point is too low, bang. If I come off a high screen, pick and roll. And your big is not up to touch, bang. If you cover me well, I'm gonna get off the ball, and I don't care. Getting off the ball. A lot of guys will give in to getting off the ball because they don't. They feel uncomfortable with now moving and losing control. And losing control.

Stephen Curry (3:38)

That's a big deal.

Klay Thompson (3:39)

And losing control. I want to make every play, or I feel like, you know, and not even like I want to make every play. I feel like our team is most comfortable with me making the decisions. Okay, Steph, I'm getting off the ball, and I'm about to. And it's going to find me because the energy. The energy that I'm going to drag out for our team and for the fear of the opponent, I think that. That it makes him the greatest. It makes him the greatest shooter of all time and one of the greatest threats.

Host/Interviewer (4:07)

Yeah.

Klay Thompson (4:08)

In NBA history.

Host/Interviewer (4:09)

We got a couple more. Just because it's fun to hear you guys talk through this. But.

Stephen Curry (4:19)

This thing. Wow. To your point, like, if I ever just stop and give in to the physicality, then they got me, which. It happened a lot in the series. But the idea of, like, always being on the move, you're. You're somewhat of a threat because you have one guy for sure, maybe two, sometimes three people worried about, you know, what your next move might be trying to predict. And with all that chaos right there with six people in the same area like me, just getting down below the free throw line, it just created the gravity. Right. That's the.

Host/Interviewer (4:59)

It also allows you guys to play with two quote unquote non shooters, which in today's league is almost impossible, but because the constant movement, you could play with loon, you could play with dre. And Draymond's had games, I think this is one of them, where he made a bunch of threes and he's obviously can do that, but those are classic non shooters on a scouting report. And you still can be a highly effective and efficient offense.

Klay Thompson (5:23)

You couldn't do that if it was just all pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll. Because at some point the defense is going to get. They're going to just shift, they're going to shave all the way to the loaded side.

Host/Interviewer (5:32)

It's predictable. Sometimes I think like you're, you know, you're an off the ball player more than a pick and roll player. And that's a mistake. You're actually an elite, elite pick and roll player. But because we're used. Yeah, so you do both. So now we've gone random pinch post, posted past stuff. You screening, running off, head onto the rim, taking it off, guys, all of a sudden you go, hey, we need one. They scored. We get in the pick and roll. And now it's a whole nother type of coverage and we haven't. Whereas when I was playing, they're like, he is getting in pick and roll. And whether we switch and he's isoing or he's drawing the roll, they kind of know there's a template here.

Stephen Curry (6:08)

Your template's like price is big to your point. Like in the lineups that I was blessed to play with, that trust was built over. Okay, if I give it up to your point of like, what's in the best interest of the team? Some teams, I get it. If you give it up, you might not get it back. Cause you don't have another primary ball handler that can handle some ball pressure and still see the play. And like me setting a screen on clay, what you got.

Klay Thompson (6:34)

Right, right, right, right.

Stephen Curry (6:35)

But the ability for me to be able to set, you know, screen, make a decision and have the energy to do it for 48, that's.

Klay Thompson (6:42)

Yeah, that's the most impressive. And you know a lot. I know there's basketball savants and guys that know the game, whatever, but like I said, a lot of things that don't get discussed too is your conditioning. You know, I talked about the strength earlier, but the conditioning, like never looks tired, you know, never looks defeated, never looks tired out there. Like for 48 minutes or however long you out on the floor is this constant, constant, constant pressure. And that is just is deflating for a defense. It's power to your teammates. You know, you. He's One of few guys that I've ever seen that can, like I said, get off the ball and turn his back on the ball. You don't see that when he does that because the ball turns his back and start running this way.

Host/Interviewer (7:29)

And literally when he does that, that's when.

Stephen Curry (7:31)

Oh, shit.

Host/Interviewer (7:32)

Yeah.

Klay Thompson (7:32)

So as a defender, if my guy gets off the ball, throws it over here now, and he's running over here, you're like, okay, let me open up. Because you've been taught your whole life, ball, you, basketball. You, man, like, point at him. He starts running away like this. You're like, oh, shit. Yay. Boom. And he's coming out this way. Ball's finding him.

Host/Interviewer (7:53)

And you, like, he thinks this shit's funny.

Stephen Curry (7:54)

I love it. I love it.

Klay Thompson (7:56)

Yeah, he thinks it's funny.

Stephen Curry (7:57)

It's my favorite.

Klay Thompson (7:58)

Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing.

Host/Interviewer (7:59)

He's still going for it still. The guys are still going. But the problem is, it doesn't really matter. Like, it's nice to get a couple steals. Like, I mean, get that extra yard or two of space. He's still gonna. I just go, okay, I'll set a screen. What are you gonna do? Okay, I'll come off and I'll curl. And someone gets a layup.

Klay Thompson (8:15)

Like, you can't. It's impossible to defend. You just gotta hope. Yeah. You just gotta hope. For some odd reason, enough of them don't go in. Yeah. And somebody has tightened the rim to a point where that is. It's like an invisible finger underneath the net and the rim as he shoots it. And they just keep. Yeah, because you just gotta hope that it goes, like, you know, just certain players in our league, there's just certain guys, over the course of the history of the game, no matter what you do, they still have an advantage. And that's what makes them great. That's what makes greats great.

Host/Interviewer (8:51)

So just talking gravity, I mean, it's chaos. And this is a set play. This is a ghost screen.

Stephen Curry (8:57)

Yeah, we ran it last year a little bit. It's just a matter of, you know, inverting pick and roll. And then I get to decide, do I screen based on how my defender is, how close the guys are, and KD here, how much space I have on the weak side, whether I want to set it. Get him downhill. Go. Screen it out. Slight hold and slip late. There's a lot of options and a lot of different timing that I can control as a screener here.

Host/Interviewer (9:25)

But in this particular clip, you saw two things. You saw space to go Screen run into. And you felt him climb up on the high side. On the high side.

Stephen Curry (9:33)

You feel it on your left shoulder right there.

Klay Thompson (9:34)

I see one bad mistake right now. Run his back. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right to everything that you saw in this clip. And I'm glad this is behind the camera.

Stephen Curry (9:47)

Why are we this hugged up so. Yeah, yeah. So it's just amazing.

Klay Thompson (9:51)

He sees it.

Stephen Curry (9:51)

We could have ran that play three straight times and that have been a different coverage.

Klay Thompson (9:54)

We should never be this hugged up here.

Stephen Curry (9:57)

Yeah.

Klay Thompson (9:58)

With the two most dangerous guys on this side of the floor right here.

Host/Interviewer (10:01)

And to your point, the game is now.

Klay Thompson (10:03)

We're up. Listen, we're down 4.

Host/Interviewer (10:05)

We're almost saying you control the lob. We'll give you a chance. Chance that we're in. We're in.

Stephen Curry (10:10)

We're saying this guy. Who's that? Caleb. Caleb's probably two steps to the right so that KD sees a body. He still might go downhill if I set a really good screen on you. Yeah, but at least he's showing himself early this picture. No, there's no chance. Too many body type defenders right here.

Host/Interviewer (10:29)

Everyone's footing the.

Stephen Curry (10:30)

You know, you just never know too.

Klay Thompson (10:31)

You look at time and score. You're down four. You know you got to get a stop. You're down 02. That also plays with the psyche too. It's like I gotta be the one to get the stop instead of saying we gotta get a stop. So like everybody, I'm like, I'm on kd. I'm like, fuck, yeah, it's loud. I don't fuck everybody else if I don't get a stop. Boom. I don't know if I'm being talked to right now. Hey, screen coming, screen coming square. Stay square. Obviously we're not doing anything back here. Everyone's. Cause you know, shit. He don't know if he comes off. And now he's a wide pin for clay coming off here. Yeah, we're down four. 30 seconds to go. If we don't get a stop here, the game is definitely over. So yeah, we may not ever see this anymore. The game is not talked like this anymore. But you never know when you inside the arena and the fire is on you. So everything changes so bad.

Host/Interviewer (11:18)

It's so important. Especially like we. You can sit here and pick people apart watching games if you're not in the room. And you know why we chose this game plan? What player is not capable or willing.

Klay Thompson (11:28)

That's that Monday morning quarterback right there. Everybody could Be that Monday morning quarterback.

Stephen Curry (11:32)

You're not in the room.

Host/Interviewer (11:33)

Why we chose and why the coaches watched 100 hours of film and decided on this game plan with this group. Now, they could be wrong, but typically they did the work. They did the work and they chose it. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it's interesting though, because of both your teams, the way you play, the way you attack the paint, the way you're always threatening the front of the rim. Now the game evolves and defenses are getting in the gaps. They're saying you can skip it to player 3, 4 or 5 and we'll shift over our zone and we'll start again. But the game evolves and I feel like that is one of the evolutions is now people are like, in the gaps hard. There's no quick. I beat my guy and I can get in. It's a lot less prevalent to just have that open space.

Stephen Curry (12:15)

You see how many teams are running guard to guard screens now. OKC won a championship essentially off of putting shay and shooters around and making. You have to decide are you going to do the pick on game. Favorable matchup. Driving lanes are always there, kick outs or shooters if you need it. But just trying to create as much space as possible with decisions for the defense to have to make. I love what you said. The context of the game does matter. Like, we could freeze frame it. KD had just hit a shot like, okay, everybody's antennas, your antennas. It ain't gonna be you.

Klay Thompson (12:47)

Right?

Stephen Curry (12:47)

Right, right, right, right. And like, I just love. That's why we play. That's why we love the game. Cause every, every possession has some different puzzle.

Host/Interviewer (12:54)

Right?

Stephen Curry (12:54)

So it's so much. That's why you love the competition behind it.

Host/Interviewer (12:57)

What about the fitness to run around like that? Like, do you take that part serious or is that some of that natural? Like, you mean you've been doing this for how many years now?

Stephen Curry (13:06)

This is 17 now.

Host/Interviewer (13:08)

17 years.

Stephen Curry (13:09)

Don't you answer that question. 17 sounds great when I just said don't. But it was always a part, like to the point of being on ball, off ball, and having to do both. Like, it was always a part of. You can't waste away down the stretch of games if that's gonna be. It's a skill set, right? My conditioning is a skill set. The idea of how you train and the intensity, it doesn't mean I have to be in there for two, three hours on the court. It's just if I'm in there for 45, like what am I getting out of this? 45. And how much focus, intentionality and intensity can I put into a drill? That's again, that question. You look at yourself in the mirror like, I know that this is transferable to a game.

Klay Thompson (13:53)

It's not just how much can I simulate this workout into a game situation.

Stephen Curry (13:57)

It's just how many can you do that over and over and over and over again. The volume of that has carried me. So granted, we always got to do our sprints and raw conditioning. Just can you get that threshold high? But the actual. Can I shoot when I'm. My heart rate's at 170 for, you know, a minute straight. Can I still be accurate? Accurate, like challenging yourself in that respect. That's.

Host/Interviewer (14:21)

That's game, like, so purposeful, intense. Yeah, I guess also, like, part of the pain. I know you must feel this is feeling the pain of your opponent.

Stephen Curry (14:37)

My favorite line is when somebody at the free, like, free the line, dead ball is like, yo, stop moving around so much.

Host/Interviewer (14:43)

Got him, Got him.

Stephen Curry (14:44)

When somebody tell me that, I love it. Like to the point of. Yeah. Because somebody, something has to give, right?

Klay Thompson (14:49)

Yes.

Stephen Curry (14:49)

You know, every game, every matchup, every battle, something gotta give.

Klay Thompson (14:54)

I don't remember. I think it was. Who was it? Oh, my goodness, I forgot who it was. We was playing Indiana in 18. We was playing Indiana 18. I think it was Thaddeus Young and I think it was fourth quarter with like five minutes to go. And I had played 43 minutes. I was going all 48, and I think I was taking the ball out and he was taking out. He was like, you gonna play the whole game? I said, I'm playing the whole game. He was. And I looked at. He was like. He basically said, what the fuck? Like, the whole game, right? Like, I'm not too tired playing the whole game. Like, he was. I was like, okay, yeah, I got it. I got it.

Host/Interviewer (15:42)

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Stephen Curry (17:13)

Yeah, 13 to 15.

Klay Thompson (17:16)

Those are our big years.

Stephen Curry (17:16)

Those are big years.

Host/Interviewer (17:19)

Methodology and thought.

Stephen Curry (17:22)

The from what the story of the time, you know, growing up In Charlotte, playing AU, I played started at nine, played 10 and under, did 10 and under two years, and then played the next three. And that was kind of the beginning. This is what, 98 to 2001, 2002. AAU was starting to blow up. Teams popping up everywhere. The competition was kind of getting a little diluted, but also, I was physically underdeveloped compared to some of the better kids at my age. And the kind of thought process was, am I really getting better by just getting physically, like, manhandled at this age? Like, there's a little bit of, like, you got to figure it out. Like, you gotta understand what physicality is. But the amount of games that we were playing and just the gap that was there. The idea was, you know, take those two years to really kind of hone in on a work ethic and a physical kind of maturation that could then catch me up. So that by 16, going back into travel basketball, that when recruiting would start, that I'd be ready to go. I played school ball those two years. Did you know, training and all that type of stuff went to the. Even just going to the wild back then.

Klay Thompson (18:38)

It was like, man, over there, grown men at the.

Stephen Curry (18:40)

Yeah, grown men. Dudes coming back from overseas playing in Charlotte. Like, so I got to play against good competition. Just wasn't formalized in terms of travel ball. And, like, am I really getting something out of this? At the time, it was the hardest thing he could have ever told me. Like, these four or five months, like, you're not gonna be.

Klay Thompson (18:57)

Especially in the summer, like, I don't get to travel to Football. That's all I wanna do. That's all I wanna do.

Stephen Curry (19:01)

For sure.

Host/Interviewer (19:02)

So you played 36 and hit the range.

Stephen Curry (19:05)

I did become that kid, like, dropped me off at the Public. The Charlotte Golf Links. It's not there anymore in Charlotte, but it was a good counter to basketball. So, you know.

Klay Thompson (19:15)

Damn it, you trash my AAU coaches. Y' all failed me. Coach Drew Joyce, you fail me. Not let me play those. I could have been at the links. I could have been at Firestone Country Club.

Stephen Curry (19:26)

That's what I'm saying. Down the street.

Klay Thompson (19:28)

God damn it.

Stephen Curry (19:30)

I love that kid, too. Yeah.

Host/Interviewer (19:31)

Do you feel like there's a parallel from golf to basketball for you, or is it just a great release?

Stephen Curry (19:39)

First is a great release. You're outside, you're with the people that you want to spend time with. But what I found is tapping into that competitive energy without having to expand, expend. You know, yourself as you do in basketball. For me, it's the most healthy, you know, way to get away from the game, but still tap into what makes me, you know, me. You're always competing against yourself. You. Doesn't matter. You might lose some money, games in your group or whatever, but, you know, like, it's shot. The shot. It's, can I lock in and conquer this? And if I can't, I can't dwell on it, because you gotta. You know, you're on this vision. You got the next shot coming up. And it's the same kind of mentality with basketball. Not kind of dwelling in the past or getting too down on yourself. If things aren't going your way, you just got to figure it out. And that perseverance I found is a good parallel to go to, like, conditioning your focus and being able. Yeah. Positive self talk. Like, the idea of it's just you, and you get so frustrated at times. It's like, there's no bro.

Klay Thompson (20:41)

If you say you get frustrated and you've been playing since you was teen, you can only imagine how I feel out here. I just started a few months ago, like. But I love what you said, though. When you was out there with Bryson. You was like. He asked you, like, why. Why do you love golf so much? He was just, like, one word. It's intoxicating. Yeah, that's it. Like, just straight up intoxicating. Like it is. It's just I never, like, Randy been trying to get me to play golf since I was, like, how long?

Stephen Curry (21:12)

Okay. I didn't know if it was that long.

Klay Thompson (21:13)

First guy into the league, he was like, bro, we gotta play. I'm like, I'm not playing that slow ass, sporty game.

Host/Interviewer (21:20)

Can Randy play?

Klay Thompson (21:21)

Randy's. Randy was a caddy when he was like 12 years old.

Stephen Curry (21:25)

Okay.

Klay Thompson (21:26)

So he said he would go out, be a caddy, you know, and, you know, obviously when you go to, like, they don't really want the caddies playing, he said, but some of the guys will, you know, depending on how far the hole was from the club box or the clubhouse, they would let him go up and hit every now and then from time to time and things of that nature. And he kind of like learned the game from there. He can watch it. Obviously they would tell him, you know, how far the ball was from the pin, from the flag, all these type of, like, nuances of the game. And he's just been in it like for years and years and years. And like when you get into the NBA, you know, every team always has this, like, this little golf outing every year. So like when I played with Cleveland early on, we had this golf outing. Like, Austin Carr would be there and like, you know, Larry Nance and all the guys that be there. And I would go and I would dress apart. One thing about it, I'm gonna look good out there. I'm like, I'm not playing this game. I'm not playing this. I regret it. I owe him. I owe him. I already owe him a lot, but I wish I would have listened.

Host/Interviewer (22:29)

For sure, you got time.

Klay Thompson (22:30)

But I got something.

Stephen Curry (22:31)

You got plenty of time. Plenty of time, you said.

Host/Interviewer (22:34)

Intoxicating. So what's the lowest score you've ever had on cocktails?

Stephen Curry (22:39)

It goes either way.

Jason (Director/Announcer) (22:41)

You get hotter here.

Host/Interviewer (22:42)

It goes well.

Stephen Curry (22:42)

You try to find cruising altitude when you're out there. Once you get past that, the science. The science to it. I had some good rounds. Vacations in the summer, though. I gotta turn off the expectations of acting like I'm out here on the PGA Tour. I'm just having a good time. To your point, though, that idea of starting from scratch or something. Golf is like the one thing, no matter how hard you work, you don't necessarily get that return on investment right away. Delayed gratification, yes, whatever. That J curve, it's that like you gonna be bad for a while and then something's gonna click and then you'll see the consistency start. And then it's like, all right, now how do I actually score on a round round? All right, now how can I get a little bit more creative on short game stuff? Oh, now I see the whole but now strategy. Like, I need to hit it here and be able to attack. Like, that's why it's a game for life. And it's so much fun. Once you get through that initial frustration of like, if I spend four or five hours out here, I might not get that much better right now. Like, be able to have something to show for it, but it's all gonna pay.

Host/Interviewer (23:52)

One thing I wanna ask you about is I wanna get into a leadership conversation with you guys. But one thing I wanna ask you about, having been around you a bunch, is you're always the same every day. And I don't know if this is true, but I wanna talk through, like, pressure, because maybe I'll start by saying, like, because your dad played in the league, does the league not feel so big to you?

Stephen Curry (24:15)

It still does.

Host/Interviewer (24:16)

It still does.

Stephen Curry (24:16)

But it helped. The initial shock factor for sure. I've been in locker rooms, I'd gone on a couple road trips and seen how the team moves and all that. I got to see how my dad interacted with coaching staff, other players, staff in the locker room, around the arena, around the team, like, all those type of things. Even fans at times when we were at dinner, you know, in Charlotte growing up, people come over, like, interrupting dinner. I got to see how he handled those moments. Obviously he played in a different era and it's 100 times what he experienced. But that shock factor, I think was kind of neutralized because I've been around it, but it's still surreal. Like, none of this makes any sense.

Host/Interviewer (25:02)

But you come in every day with a smile on your face. Like, I think it's really important, like, for fans to understand how valuable that is. When your best player is just like, happy, go lucky.

Klay Thompson (25:13)

Yeah, every day, that's a gift.

Host/Interviewer (25:17)

But also like the hardest worker. Like the most intense, purposeful, routine oriented focus. But then like, you could be right in the middle of focus and someone could yell something funny across the gym and you just start dying laughing. Like, the balance is insane. Can you.

Stephen Curry (25:35)

I don't know how to. Nah, that's my personality. I find fun in everything. To your point. I have the killer instinct behind the smile. Like, I want to win every. But I'm gonna have fun. My faith has a big part of it. I'm super grateful knowing, like, none of this makes sense. I know I worked hard and I was given a gift, but why? Like, what is this? Doesn't make sense to me. And I try to, like, rationalize with that every single day. And so I don't Want to ever lose that gratitude for what I get to do. And then out of that, like, basketball is fun to me. Like, this job has is. There's challenges all over the place. We feel it every. Like, especially when you're leading a team and franchise and trying to win, and when you play well and when you don't, it's coming back to you. Like, you have to be able to embrace that. But basketball is still fun to me. Like, when I'm out on the court, happy place. If I lose that, then it's probably time to quit for sure. Said that, but I don't know what. I guess there's a part of it, too, that's a little bit of intentionality. Like, don't let you have to address stuff that happens. Life is unfair at times, and there's a lot of things that you're balancing and all the different roles we play as a man. But I try not to allow that to creep in on the sanctity of, like, basketball, because I know it's not going to be around forever.

Host/Interviewer (27:00)

The way you guys have handled your lives and careers and balances as impressive as your games, I just. Honestly, the way your spirit, energy, like, the way he comes in every day, like, it's almost more impressive than your game. Like, being in the storm every day. Everyone's looking at you every day. How's he come in? They don't. People stop looking now because they know what, you know, what they're gonna get. Like, that's just a remarkable skill or talent. Tell us about leadership. Like, what's your. What's your thoughts? And, like, what is your belief in a leadership role?

Stephen Curry (27:36)

Yeah, it's. Everybody has their different style. We all know that. Like, I was never the loudest kind of voice in the room, and it took me a while to kind of develop not just the confidence, but you talk about the skill set of, like, your presence. Like, the skill set of timely messages, how to get people's attention, how an audience in the locker room can kind of relate to what you're saying, how you're saying, and what you're trying to get out of them. Like, all that's been built over time. I'm still learning to this day. I've been grateful to have different personalities around me that fulfill a different job as well. Like, Draymond, for me, in that sense has been. Been the fire that we need on a daily basis where he'll tell you, you don't know what you get when you're coming in every day, but you need that to get you through, you know, the times where we need a little spark, like, we need somebody to say, f you, like, whoever's in the other locker room, like, create an enemy like that. That's not my necessary nature, but that's his. And then I can bring it back to saying, all right, let's not go over, like, when our emotions can't get the best of us, we have to kind of find that balance. And that tug of war has always been great over these last 14 years with him, with Steve, like, in our locker room, his leadership is. He's the most personable, like, see the human first type of guy that I've ever met. And he always leads with that in terms of the conversations he's trying to have and how he leads. So we all have different styles. We've made space for all of those different voices over time, and that's the only way this thing has worked for as long as it has. And nobody's asked anybody to really change. It's just, we all know, you know, what we bring to the table, and there's value in that. So that's all been an amazing experience and something we'll talk about forever. Just how we were able to put all this together.

Host/Interviewer (29:21)

You've become more vocal.

Stephen Curry (29:22)

Oh, for sure.

Host/Interviewer (29:23)

What was that transition like? Is it just.

Stephen Curry (29:25)

Just do it natural? Yeah. Did you feel like overthinking, or did.

Host/Interviewer (29:29)

You just naturally started?

Stephen Curry (29:31)

There's definitely an element of that. When Mark Jackson was the first guy that really kind of lit that fire in me. He went out on a, you know, a branch on his own. And when he called me and Clay the best, you know, shooting backcourt duo in the league, and we were, what, year five and three at the time or something like that, he created expectations. So in order to live out on the court, like, everything that happens, we were doing it. But everything that happens behind the scenes in terms of the team culture and leadership, like, now there's a sense of urgency on everything. So that was like the first kind of, you know, put the battery in your pack and become more vocal there. My style still is more like, I'll do the. If we need to have the team, you know, only meetings, player only meetings. If we need that, that rah rah, like, you know, the movie type, like, we need. I need that speech type thing. But mostly mine's kind of trying to connect on the one to one to know everybody has a different style. Every player is different. I know some people I might need to, you know, give just a little lean and show like, yo, how you doing today? Like that type of thing. Or some guys might, I might need to just say everything and don't let them even speak and just walk off like that type of thing. You just got to learn that over time. Again, I haven't mastered that at all. Like, I'm still learning that part of to the point. How you lead by example, how you show up every day, that does matter. But you do need to hearing him give speeches and talks last summer, everything was timely and everything mattered and then like memorable in terms of the journey. Every time we brought it in after practice or after a game, like he kind of was able to capture the moment. And that's a skill set that is different than the way that I approach it. And so, you know, everybody has their kind of unique way of leading and that's pretty dope about this opportunity.

Host/Interviewer (31:41)

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Host/Interviewer (34:15)

So you guys finally play together this summer? Last summer, the Olympics and your leadership styles match. I mean, first question, was it great to welcome him to the Olympics? Four or five games, 36 holes a day?

Klay Thompson (34:38)

You know what, it's funny. We'd be at practice and D book would be like, ant. You hear ant. All right, now we wait on one of them step games. We wait on one of them step games. And Book would be like, oh, it's coming, it's coming, it's coming. And I'd be like, oh, yeah, I can see it.

Stephen Curry (34:54)

You remember when I was doing an interview against. Is that Brazil? No, Puerto Rico.

Klay Thompson (34:59)

Puerto Rico. Yeah, Puerto Rico. Yep.

Stephen Curry (35:01)

I was doing an interview with one of our local Bay Area guys, and they asked me that question, like, yo, your numbers. You know, your shots. You feel like one of your marquee games is coming? I was like, yeah, I'm just staying patient. I think he was just walking by white when I said it. Hell, yeah, it is. And they wrote a dude heard it. I started dying. The timing couldn't have been any better. That's the only party heard the whole interview. All right.

Klay Thompson (35:29)

We said, all right, that's all we need.

Host/Interviewer (35:33)

But it's gotta be tricky, though, like, you guys bringing, like, the best players in the league. You come together, like, in a short period of time. Short period of time, yeah, for sure. You don't even know sometimes who's getting on the plane with injuries. Like, you had a couple guys drop out, and you guys have to find a way that the room feels right.

Stephen Curry (35:49)

Right.

Klay Thompson (35:50)

And the difference between. Obviously the biggest difference, like on the court is that your usage rate is not chopped in half. It's chopped, like, three fourths. You know, we all have the ability to, you know, if we have a bad first quarter or a bad first half, we can, we can figure it out in the second half.

Stephen Curry (36:09)

Sure.

Klay Thompson (36:10)

You know, we know that the ball's gonna find us. We know the ball's gonna be in our hands. We know, you know, we can play's gonna be called our. You know, you know, you're playing one with eight less minutes. You know, you're going from a 48 minute game to a 40 minute game. And that's. You don't realize until you playing those games how fast those 10 minute quarters go. Them things is rapid fire, but just like the, the usage rate thing, man. And it's like, you know, sometimes it's hard to get into a rhythm. Yep. You know, so the benefit is we, the benefit we had. You don't always have to be in a rhythm. You don't always have to be in a rhythm because you look to your left, you're like, okay, all right, he got it tonight. Or, you know, or. So what. What can I do? That could still impact, impact, impact. Winning. And that was our mindset. And like, like, obviously we knew he was like being super hard on himself. Like, what the. Like, we knew we could see you.

Host/Interviewer (37:01)

Were feeling a little bit.

Stephen Curry (37:02)

No, for sure.

Klay Thompson (37:03)

We could see it after practice.

Stephen Curry (37:04)

First Olympics. You don't want to be the guy that. There's a context of numbers to your point. Like, it's not. You can't compare it, but you don't want to be the guy that underperforms at a certain moment that could dictate whether we win or lose. Especially in that locker room.

Klay Thompson (37:18)

Yeah, we've seen that through every practice. He was, he was on his. He was on his ass. He was on his ass. Yes. And we was like, it's coming. Here we go. It's coming.

Host/Interviewer (37:28)

And boy did it.

Klay Thompson (37:30)

Oh, man. Avalanche.

Host/Interviewer (37:32)

One of the funnest. As a Canadian, I say this one of the funnest basketball moments in the semifinal.

Stephen Curry (37:42)

Oh, my. Best ten minutes ever.

Host/Interviewer (37:44)

Yeah, I was like a kid off my couch. Fist pump.

Klay Thompson (37:48)

It's one of the best games I ever played in my life.

Host/Interviewer (37:50)

I was like, what am I watching right now? You felt it in the moment.

Stephen Curry (37:55)

I felt the panic at the end of the third quarter when old Buddy hit the and 1 3. He's like, yeah, I'm 15.

Host/Interviewer (38:03)

What's that like?

Stephen Curry (38:04)

I'm counting the minutes because to your point, how fast, like you felt how fast the games were, and you're like.

Klay Thompson (38:10)

And when it got under eight, under seven in the fourth, and I look, I'm like, yo, if We.

Host/Interviewer (38:16)

What were you down under 7?

Stephen Curry (38:18)

Probably was 8 to 8 to 10. 8 to 10, probably still after KD hit the 3 and then book hit the inbound 3. And that's when it changed. It was double digits to that point.

Host/Interviewer (38:30)

Double digits.

Klay Thompson (38:32)

We was like, what are we. Come on now. It ain't go time. This is like, emergency. Like, this is like the president cracking the glass. Like, okay, like, come on now.

Host/Interviewer (38:42)

DEFCON 5. Yeah, yeah, but like, you were great. You carried the team through large stretches. You were awesome the whole tournament, like, devastating and transition and all that stuff. But, like, what the fuck was that? Like, you, like, did you. Were you. Like, I'm hot? Were you like, this is the moment. Were you. Did it all come together? Like, you were making ridiculous shots.

Stephen Curry (39:04)

First quarter against Serbia in the semifinals, that was. There was a moment. It was like, everything was a little tough. They were playing out of their mind. And then I found a couple openings. I missed my first three. We got an offensive rebound and kick back to the right wing, and I made the second, the two for a dollar. And at that point, all right, that's when you start to feel the energy. Maybe if I get a couple good looks, I'm starting to feel it. And they just came and pinned downs were on time. Transition finally in the corner, everything just. And I was capitalizing, kept us in it to the point. Then that fourth quarter, just give us a chance. And, man, like, 10 minutes of perfect basketball.

Klay Thompson (39:45)

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Stephen Curry (39:46)

Except offense, rebounds. We couldn't get a rebound. We could not get a. We couldn't get a defensive rebound. But other than that, it was perfect. Basketball on both ends. Everybody had their moment. Everybody, you know, playing the ass off. And just the idea, like, it took everything out of us to get it. They. Serbia played a plus game. Yeah, yeah, A plus.

Klay Thompson (40:06)

A plus. They still wondering how the hell they lost.

Stephen Curry (40:09)

Yeah, that's for sure.

Klay Thompson (40:11)

For real. For real.

Stephen Curry (40:11)

Yeah, that's. We felt all of that.

Host/Interviewer (40:13)

And then the final. The closing. I mean, the closing was insane. Like, you carried over, obviously, that kind of. You felt now, okay, now I'm here and I'm rolling, but, like, what's it like in those moments when you're just. You're like, you know what? I'm not going to mess around. I'm just going to pull. I'm just going to pull from, like, 28.

Stephen Curry (40:32)

There's no thought to it. I remember the conversation we had. They had just cut it to three when we hit the putback, and I'm like, yo, you get the Ball. I'm coming inside the screen for you. I actually wanted him go downhill, maybe get to the freezing line, like, at least settle us down, because I know he's great at that. Just from the killer momentum for a second. When he threw that pass, like, muscle memory just took over. I couldn't even tell you what I was thinking. No. I saw Yabaselli, like, bite on it on the left jab. And once you see that, it's just reactionary. And you make it, like, to the point I'm just living with it. And then from there, we had intentionality on the possession. Didn't mean I was gonna get every shot, but it just, like, we would get organized and, you know, settle the tempo down. And obviously they all had to go in. But I'm still laughing at the picture. You and Katie over there with you.

Klay Thompson (41:31)

What are you talking about? When you was quadruple team. I can't believe you froze us out like that. Just shot that crazy shit. Ah.

Stephen Curry (41:37)

Instead of that.

Host/Interviewer (41:38)

But, Kev, you had the ball. There was two on you. And he was. You looked at him and he was.

Stephen Curry (41:42)

Like, he threw it back.

Klay Thompson (41:42)

He was like, he threw it back.

Stephen Curry (41:44)

And then I just, like, I gotta get something going.

Klay Thompson (41:46)

And oh, my goodness.

Stephen Curry (41:46)

And I just saw this right here.

Klay Thompson (41:48)

We both over here, like, oh, my goodness. NBA Jam, bro. NBA Jam. We all play NBA Jam.

Host/Interviewer (41:57)

In your mind, Like, I'm serious, because I understand if you can express this, like, in those moments, what do you feel like? Are you. Are you now not even thinking now?

Stephen Curry (42:06)

That last one, playing basketball. Yeah, the last.

Host/Interviewer (42:09)

You see the rim.

Stephen Curry (42:11)

The first. The first one was again, the conversation like, I've set a screen for you. He made the play, I reacted. Whatever. The second one, Batum, he hesitated for half a second.

Klay Thompson (42:22)

Half a second. Yep.

Stephen Curry (42:23)

And I got a quick pump.

Klay Thompson (42:24)

Yep.

Stephen Curry (42:25)

And then the third one was. That was great basketball. The third one, I got trapped. Swing, swing the book, baseline, draw. That's like practice.

Klay Thompson (42:33)

Yep.

Stephen Curry (42:33)

And then it just happens that that's the follow through of, like, really good possessions. After three minutes of horrible possessions, like, it was just. Everybody was just in flow state. And I'm obviously the one, you know, finishing the play, but it was. It was just great basketball. The last one, whatever that was, he.

Klay Thompson (42:52)

Didn'T, you know, he didn't see the rim on the last one. What? Night. Night time, everybody. It's time to go to bed.

Stephen Curry (42:59)

I forgot about the rest of the time.

Host/Interviewer (43:00)

I lost my mind. I lost my mind.

Stephen Curry (43:02)

Defense. The next two positions.

Klay Thompson (43:04)

No party had started by the Way he thought they. He thought a timeout happened after the last. He ran down the whole right side, went around the baseline, looked at the. Looked at our teammates on the bench. I'm like, yo, yo, yo, we got a guard seal, bro. Like, we, yo.

Stephen Curry (43:23)

He got the rebound.

Klay Thompson (43:27)

Yeah.

Stephen Curry (43:27)

Live pass the book. Yeah. And then I was like, yeah, we good, we're good.

Host/Interviewer (43:32)

You almost tricked it off with a cellie.

Stephen Curry (43:34)

I covered some ground.

Klay Thompson (43:35)

Yeah, he covered some ground, bro. I'm telling. It's one of the best experience. Like, it was everything. People like, ask me all the time, like, you know, finally got an opportunity, tune in and play with Steph. Like, what was it? I was like, everything and more like, it was. It was perfect. First person I text.

Stephen Curry (43:51)

Exactly. Say that.

Klay Thompson (43:52)

First person I text when we. I was trying to assemble the team. Whatever. It's first person I text, I said, bro. He said, good willing injuries. I'm good. Injury wise. That's the plan. I said, say no more. Say no more.

Host/Interviewer (44:09)

That's amazing.

Klay Thompson (44:10)

That's how. That's how I started.

Host/Interviewer (44:13)

What do you think this is?

Stephen Curry (44:14)

How old are you guys now? You're 40? 30, 37.

Klay Thompson (44:18)

I'll be 41 in a month and a half.

Host/Interviewer (44:21)

Month and a half, bro. You think you got an LA Olympics in?

Stephen Curry (44:26)

When's that?

Host/Interviewer (44:26)

Is that next? The next one?

Stephen Curry (44:28)

28?

Klay Thompson (44:29)

You already know my answer. You don't even know. I will be watching it from comic.

Host/Interviewer (44:35)

You did plenty of Olympics.

Klay Thompson (44:36)

Yes, man.

Host/Interviewer (44:38)

You think he might.

Stephen Curry (44:40)

It is the opposite answer. What I told him last year is like, God willing, I still have the choice and the physical option to be like, I could actually impact the team. Never say never. But I highly doubt it. I highly doubt it. Love to be a part of the movement.

Klay Thompson (44:59)

We can't top what we can get. We're going to top those last two games.

Host/Interviewer (45:02)

That's the top.

Klay Thompson (45:03)

And just the moment, like, just. We can't top those last two games, man. Like, those last two. We literally played France and Paris for the finals, you know, like that. It would have been like in 08, like during a redeemed team if we'd have played China in the final, right?

Host/Interviewer (45:22)

And playing you guys especially the place must have been, oh, it's great.

Stephen Curry (45:26)

They had all the chance. They had the songs going, you know, they had beat.

Klay Thompson (45:29)

They had beat. They had beat Canada. They, you know, they was excited to play them, but they was. It was conversations like, oh, shit, Canada gonna be in the final four. You know, and they went in there and beat up on Canada. They did they needed you, man. Had to shave that nerve down.

Host/Interviewer (45:48)

Not need 51 year old playing zone. I got the corner.

Stephen Curry (45:57)

You got the corner, man. I got the quick outlet right there.

Host/Interviewer (46:04)

Hot potato. You know what randomly just popped in my head. Is it true that you used to read tweets at halftime when you weren't playing?

Stephen Curry (46:11)

Well, I did that. I'm not proud of it, but it was a fun time.

Host/Interviewer (46:14)

I think it's amazing.

Stephen Curry (46:16)

There's just too many phones in the locker room nowadays. I enabled the younger generation to be like, we find motivation from anywhere. But yeah, it was like a two year stretch.

Host/Interviewer (46:26)

So wait, walk me through. What are you thinking?

Stephen Curry (46:29)

Is only when I was playing bad. So if I was, you know, tripping, not in rhythm, shooting, horrible, whatever, I go get a little, little motivation. So it's like maybe four quick scrolls. Find something. All right. And then coach would walk in.

Host/Interviewer (46:46)

I'm ready.

Stephen Curry (46:47)

That's amazing. The one, the one thing where I was messing with around is a journalist named Kerith Burke who does stuff for NBC and she heard about it, this is how, before it became a thing. And she tweeted me at halftone like, if you're reading this, do an airplane celebration after you make your next three.

Klay Thompson (47:10)

Don't tell me you did the airplane.

Stephen Curry (47:12)

It was in Cleveland and hit the joint a little quicker.

Host/Interviewer (47:17)

There's only one step, Curry. There's only one.

Klay Thompson (47:20)

There's only one. There will only ever be one.

Stephen Curry (47:23)

I forever tell that story. That Jo is hilarious. It's like only knowing the ins and outs is like a beat on, on the team. Like you're crying. I'm just having a blast out there.

Klay Thompson (47:33)

That's awesome.

Stephen Curry (47:34)

That's so good.

Host/Interviewer (47:35)

So good.

Stephen Curry (47:42)

Keep mine in the game.

Host/Interviewer (47:44)

I'm sitting Harvey. Mind that game.

Klay Thompson (47:47)

By the way. You see the. That they doing? You see that with the coaches, ESPN with the coaches.

Host/Interviewer (47:51)

And it's good. I liked it. Wait till you see what Amazon Prime's doing. Thanks for watching Mind the Game. New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Remember to like subscribe or follow wherever you're watching.

Stephen Curry (48:11)

Sam.