In a weird way, there are a bunch of similarities between Steph Curry and Lonzo Ball. While Ball isn’t exactly on Curry’s level as an MVP-caliber superstar, both got off to slow starts to their careers and came into the league with the reputation of being dynamic college basketball players who could shoot the lights out. And of course, both had famous dads who played a role in shaping their reputations.
This happened differently for both guys, though. Curry’s father, Dell, is one of the best shooters in NBA history. Ball’s father, LaVar, never played basketball, but is great at drawing attention and using his platform to hype up his sons and get into fights with the President of the United States.
While it’s not the exact same thing — especially that bit about the president — Curry does understand what it’s like to get judged because of your dad. The former MVP spoke with Chris Haynes of ESPN about this and how Ball can deal with it ahead of Wednesday’s matchup between Los Angeles and Golden State. He admits that he can only “sort of relate” to what’s happening to Ball, but still wants him to use all of the noise caused by his father as “motivation.”
Via ESPN:
“Early in my sophomore and junior years in high school, there was a little extra pressure because of who my dad was,” Curry said, “and I felt like everybody was kind of critiquing my every move on the court, and I was already not getting recruited or anything. I was always playing to be recognized by coaches. So, I had pressure on myself anyway. Whenever you miss a shot, the crowd goes crazy, and only for your misses and nobody else’s. The high school cheering sections going at me, and hounding me the whole game. Even in college, the same type of deal. It rubs you the wrong way a little bit. I had to go through those experiences.
“But at the end of the day, I taught myself how to have a sense of humor about it and understand that it kind of comes with the territory of choosing the same sport that my pops played, and dealing with it that way. [Lonzo] can’t let what people say bother him.
This is good advice from Curry, even if it may be tough to drown out the noise, as evidenced by the fact that Ball has said he was surprised by the amount of media attention he’s received in the NBA. There’s plenty of time for Ball to take this advice and apply it, though, as he’s a 20 year old who has played 20 games in the NBA.
And at the end of the day, it must help for Ball to know that he has a fan in one of the best basketball players in the world who had similar struggles early on his his career.
