Steph Curry usually already has it all planned out.
Long before touching down at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, knowing it’s his lone visit of the season to his hometown with the Golden State Warriors, there is typically one main mission on Curry’s agenda that sits atop the itinerary. Well, besides catching up with as many family members as possible anyway.
“Bojangles is my spot,” Curry told the Observer after Saturday night’s practice at Spectrum Center in advance of the Warriors’ matchup with the Hornets on Sunday night. “You can’t get it anywhere on the West Coast. So I do fiend for that when I come home.”
Hey, those seasoned fries, Bo-Berry Biscuits and chicken in general conjure up some mouth-watering cravings for native Carolinians. There’s just something about it. Even so, that doesn’t mean he was about to have that cuisine catered to the team’s Saturday night dinner.
“Nah, I wouldn’t do that to the team because that would lead to a Charlotte win for sure,” Curry said minutes earlier in a conversation with reporters. “We would probably be in some serious itis-type situations. But after the game it’s a good celebratory situation for sure.”
The Hornets (7-7) host the Warriors (11-1) at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Curry spoke with The Observer about several topics, including what he likes most about LaMelo Ball’s game; his favorite catchphrase of Hornets’ play-by-play man Eric Collins; if he thinks he will ever play for Charlotte prior to hanging up his sneakers for good; and more.
Roderick Boone: “How much do you enjoy tapping into Hornets broadcasts and watching your dad? How cool is it still to be able to do that?”
Steph Curry: “I watch as many games as I can if we are not playing. They have such a good chemistry and obviously they are becoming well-known around the NBA world, sports world even in terms of Eric’s excitement especially. Pop’s good one-liners. And obviously they have a solid team now with a lot of energy, a lot of young guys, a lot of talent that they get to call. So I know that they are trying to win consistently, but it’s a good vibe. I was watching highlights from (Friday) night since we were playing and it seemed like it was, pun intended, a nice buzz in here. So I thought it was cool.”
RB: “Do you have a favorite catchphrase of Eric’s or your dad’s?”
SC: “Yeah, ‘hum diddle dee’ is solid. ‘How do you do?’ Pops had a good line. I don’t know if it was preseason, but he used it early. (James) Bouknight dunked on somebody in the preseason and he said the guy that jumped, ‘He tried to make a business decision but he was already in the meeting.’ And that was good, that was good. I said, ‘Why are you using that in the preseason? You’ve got to save that.’ That will probably have to come back. I don’t know if too many people watched that one.”
RB: “You’ve spoken previously about the importance of the team being good here in Charlotte for the sake of the fans and league in general. How cool is it to see what this franchise is meaning now to people outside of Charlotte?”
SC: “It’s dope. I mean, this is where I grew up. This is where I learned how to play. This is obviously home and there is a rich basketball here. Obviously with college basketball with the Hornets did from ‘88 till when they went to New Orleans and now coming back. So there is already a richness to Charlotte and North Carolina in terms of the basketball, and you need the Hornets to be good and eventually competing for championships. But as long as they are relevant, that’s obviously good.”
RB: “What does LaMelo do out there that excites you just as a basketball fan in general?”
SC: “He just has a lot of flair and a confidence and creativity to his game. You never know what is going to happen every possession. And that’s a fun brand of basketball to watch. Obviously they want to be able to put it together with a team that can win, but for a guy that young to have that much feel as early as he’s had and some of the numbers he’s put up, it’s hard to do. ... So that’s pretty special.”
RB: “Is it weird that you and the Warriors will be linked forever with the Hornets in a sense since the teams picked second and third in the 2020 draft where James Wiseman and LaMelo selected back-to-back?”
SC: “There’s narratives all around the league, obviously. The longer you are in it, you find yourself in different conversations. You want to be relevant every year. We’ve been on the championship-type of scene and are trying to get back there, and they are trying to find it for the first time in a while. So it’s healthy. You want the parity in the league to be there and the optimism that this team can become that eventually. Who knows if they can? But that is part of the conversation.”
RB: “Being from here and knowing Ish Smith I’m sure, can you imagine what it is like for Ish to now play here with the Hornets?”
SC: “I’ve had dreams about it, knowing it will be cool to play here. It probably won’t happen. But for him, playing in Cabarrus County. ... We played AAU together ... for the Charlotte Stars and then he went to the Forest City Heat and obviously Wake Forest and the whole deal. So for him to bounce around the league double-digit years now and now playing in Charlotte, it’s kind of crazy to think about. I haven’t talked to him. I don’t know how he’s felt that energy, but it’s got to be cool playing home. It probably comes with some other stuff off the court in terms of just family and attention and all that. But that’s just the pros and cons of it.”
RB: “How much do people ask you about playing here at some point and do you think about maybe playing your final season here?”
SC: “I’ve thought about it before. When you are a young guy in the league, you don’t know what’s really ahead of you. It’s more relevant then to start thinking about it. I just signed my extension and part of it is understanding I will be a Warrior for life. This is my 13th year in the league. Everything that we’ve built wearing this jersey and all that, that vision has kind of died. There’s no other way to put it. But who knows? Who knows?”
