“I Don’t Want Them”: The Day Stephen Curry Told ‘F**k Them’ to Coach K and Paved Way For a Legendary NBA Career

Posted on by Jack Marks

Every single individual has made a personal or professional choice they later wish they had not. Something that, when people reflect on it in the future, possibly might have altered the direction of their lives. That also applies to Coach K and the Duke basketball team. Basketball fans were shocked on Wednesday when Rex Chapman, a former Kentucky Wildcat, revealed that Stephen Curry had shown interest in playing for the Duke Blue Devils to his father Dell Curry, a colleague of Chapman’s with the Charlotte Hornets.

Stephen Curry
Image Credits – The NY Times

When Chapman asked Johnny Dawkins, the Blue Devils’ assistant coach at the time, if the frail youngster from North Carolina could play for Duke, Steph Curry, a four-time NBA Champion, was a senior in high school. Curry, on the other hand, wasn’t aiming for a scholarship to Duke; all Rex Chapman wanted was to walk on with the legendary team.

Stephen Curry told his father to drop Duke to continue at Davidson

As every school in the nation hoped he would transfer after his rookie year, Steph Curry went on to average 21.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 threes, 2.8 assists, and 1.8 steals while shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 40.8 percent from 3-point range. Curry is currently considered one of the all-time greats in basketball, and as the best shooter in NBA history, he is credited for altering the game by motivating teams and players to use the three-point shot more regularly.

Curry was chosen for the All-NBA squad eight times, was selected an NBA All-Star eight times, four times on the first team, twice awarded the NBA Most Valuable Player, won four NBA titles, and the NBA Finals MVP Award, and the NBA All-Star Game MVP Award. Curry won his fourth title with the Warriors in 2022 against the Boston Celtics, his first Finals MVP award of his career, after missing the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.