The world has been on virtual lock-down for weeks now in the face of a global pandemic that has killed tens of thousands and continues to spread rapidly as a badly-depleted healthcare industry scrambles to provide services to the scores of people who have been affected.
The crisis has forced everyone to make sacrifices and has led to an unprecedented situation in which the majority of the population is confined to their homes and left floundering to find ways to occupy their time to try and maintain a basic level of sanity amid all the fear and uncertainty.
It’s required many people to give up what they love doing the most. That includes professional athletes, whose seasons have been delayed indefinitely. For Steph Curry, it’s meant that he hasn’t been able to shoot a basketball for weeks now. That’s right. Apparently, Steph Curry, aka the greatest shooter who’s ever walked the face of the Earth, doesn’t have a basketball hoop at his home. But that was rectified recently after Ayesha purchased one for him online, but it turns out the assembly was more involved than he anticipated.
Via Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal:
Stephen Curry had been stuck at home for more than two weeks, unable to do the one thing he does better than anybody, when his wife ordered him a Spalding hoop for their driveway. For the first time in 16 days, he could shoot a basketball. Or at least that was the plan.
But this solution only caused another problem. Now he actually had to put the hoop together.
“I got overwhelmed looking at the manual,” Curry said. After what he could only describe as “a pretty serious effort,” Curry finally succeeded at his unexpected assembly job. It only took him five hours.
“I was very confident in myself going in,” he said. “That was shot down pretty quick.”
Perhaps gaining a more intimate knowledge of all the mechanisms of a basketball hoop will make him even that much more deadly as a shooter. But even though he hasn’t been able to shoot recently, he’s had plenty to keep himself occupied during the self-quarantine.
Earlier this week, Curry interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci of the Institute for Infectious Diseases in an effort to educate fans about the dangers of COVID-19 and the best ways to protect yourself and others. He and his wife Ayesha have donated to local efforts to ensure school children have meals, and he along with the Warriors organization have pledged $1 million to the arena workers who have been put out of work.
Before the shutdown, Curry had just recently made his return after missing a big chunk of the season with a broken hand. The new hoop in the driveway should help him get his touch back for if and when the NBA season returns.
