Steph Curry, Pro Golfer
At this point, we should all be able to agree that Steph Curry is one of the most elite basketball players in the history of the NBA. His veritable litany of accomplishments, including four championships in six trips to the NBA Finals, would seem to cement that.
But more recent events would appear to indicate that Mr. Curry should seriously consider a job change, from NBA All-Star to PGA Pro. His off-season golf championship is no joke, one that makes it very clear that Curry has more to give than even his biggest supporters knew.
The So-Called Baby-Faced Assassin
Even though he’s been in the NBA since 2009, Stephen Curry still looks barely old enough to rent a car. The man looks young, and plays with the same youthful energy he brought to the game when the Golden State Warriors drafted him seventh in the first round 14 years ago.
Curry has played his entire NBA career with the Warriors, becoming the definitive face of the franchise. During his tenure, the team has won four NBA Championships and six Conference Titles. His personal collection of stats are equally impressive.
Steph was the 2022 NBA Finals MVP, the NBA League MVP in 2015 and 2016, and is a nine time NBA All-Star. But the man also changed the game. As a smaller guy, he wasn’t expected to have much impact on a big man’s game. Instead, he played the game his way, led the Warriors to domination, and forced the rest of the league to keep up with him.
With Klay Thompson and Draymond Green by his side, Curry has established the Warriors as the most successful team of the last ten years. A certain Serbian and his friends in Denver are looking to take that mantle, but you can’t deny history. Steph’s future looks interesting, too.
Hitting the Links
A lot of professional athletes play other sports in their off-season. In the case of many NHL and NBA players, the off-season sport of choice is golf. Charles Barkley is arguably as passionate about golf as he is about basketball, partially because they’ll let him drive a tiny car around while he plays golf. No carts on the hardwood, Chuck!
Not surprisingly, Steph Curry is also an avid golfer. It felt like he and Klay were on the course within fifteen minutes of clearing out their lockers for the season. It’s hard to blame them, though. Look how quickly Jokić wanted to get back to Serbia for horse racing. Basketball might be a really cool job, but it’s still a job and everyone needs time to wind down from it.
In Steph’s case, golfing isn’t like gaming or building model airplanes. It turns out that he’s really, really good at it, not that anyone should be surprised by that. As previously mentioned, we are talking about an elite level athlete, one who does not like to lose.
He recently competed in and won the American Century Championship, a celebrity golf tournament held in Nevada. As per usual with Steph, he was highlight reel fodder with great shots, stellar putts, and a beautiful hole-in-one that’s been making the rounds on social media. Curry’s performance has people talking career change.
Stephen Curry in the PGA
First and foremost, it’s important to recognize that the ACC is played by both media and sports celebrities, not professional golfers. Don’t let that minimize how well Curry played and how good he looked out there. It was like the man was born to play golf professionally, something people have said about him and basketball on numerous occasions.
The average NBA career is 4.5 years, which Curry has obviously exceeded. And only a handful of players have made it past the 20 season mark. On top of that, Steph is 35 and the average player age in the NBA is 26. The man may look younger than the kid selling popcorn, but time catches up with all of us. How many seasons does Curry realistically have left at this point?
It’s also worth mentioning that he has nothing left to prove in basketball, either. He has the titles, the honors, and the accolades, a career the vast majority of NBA players could only dream of. It might be time for the man to look for new challenges in another sport.
Realistically, only Steph will know when it’s time to walk away from basketball. When he does, it would be amazing to see him conquer the PGA the way he has the NBA. But if that’s what he wants, the average age of the top PGA players is around 27-years-old. Tick tock, Mr. Curry.
