Steph Curry on new documentary: "That underrated mindset is always part of my DNA"

Flash forward to 2023 and Steph Curry has won four NBA championships, two MVPs, a finals MVP and nine All-Star selections, and holds the record for the most career three-pointers.

The documentary predominantly takes place before all the success and accolades when he was playing at a small town Division 1 College, where his journey to the very top was more improbable than inevitable.

Through archival footage, Steph was able to relive his early basketball career and was given a fresh perspective on his time at Davidson College and how unlikely his success story was.

Talking about reliving his Davidson years, Steph said: “Anybody who goes through seasons of life probably has core memories of what your experience was and you can relive it in your head but when you tie that together with old footage, some of the highlights and some of the lowlights of the years there.

“And then also you get the perspective of all the amazing people that were a part of my story: my parents, coaches, teammates, people around the Davidson community. It's an amazing vantage point to just understand how much it impacted so many different people in a lot of different ways.”

He added: “That is something that the documentary does a great job of diving into. I learned a lot about my own journey by going back and seeing how much it impacted so many different people.”

The framing of the documentary was interesting as there are incredible moments and career highlights that aren’t referenced. However, producer Ryan Coogler believes it is often the overlooked aspects of stories that are the most exciting to tell.

He said: “On the surface, everybody knows Steph Curry – he’s the greatest shooter who has ever lived, he has won these championships for the Golden State Warriors, but the part that is overlooked is what happened before that?

“Was it preordained that he was going to do this or was it more than meets the eye with this guy before he hit the international stage? To answer that question, absolutely! The future for him was very unlikely. If you run the clock back, people would have told you it was crazy that this guy would change the trajectory of the whole league!”

Steph Curry has always been an underdog. From a young age people had always labelled him as too small, too skinny and that he didn’t have the strength to compete in the NBA.

Many colleges around the country overlooked Steph for those reasons but Davidson College took a chance on him and the rest is history.

It is this story of an underdog defying the odds that Coogler believes makes the documentary so effective to a wider audience, not just NBA fans.

He said: “Everybody knows what it feels like to be underrated or undervalued or overlooked or to have a chip on their shoulder. I think it is that quality that makes this story so universal.”

Alongside the likes of superstars Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, Steph Curry led the Golden State Warriors to their first NBA Championship since 1975.

This started one of the most dominant dynasties in sports history as they won a further two rings in ‘17 and ‘18.

After defeat to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Finals, the dynasty ended as Kevin Durant was traded to Brooklyn Nets and Klay Thompson suffered a serious ACL injury and the Warriors missed the Playoffs in the following two seasons.

NBA journalists and media were strong with criticism and claimed the Warriors would never lift another championship and that Steph Curry wasn’t the player he once was.

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If anyone has learned anything from Steph Curry’s journey, it should be to never write him off – he always finds a way to defy the odds. The documentary ends with Steph Curry and his team doing just that as the Warriors won the 2022 NBA Championship.

This was the championship that meant the most to Steph as it truly encapsulated his underrated spirit, similar to his Davidson years.

He said: “There was a synergy with the Davidson years and trying to really build towards something special and everything that goes into that. The sacrifice, not just from me, but from every teammate that I play with, every coach, everyone is pouring everything that they had into a shared goal.

“That ‘22 Championship was an embodiment of that same spirit, overcoming the odds and defying what people say about you and accomplishing a goal you all put together.”

Steph Curry has won everything there is to win in the game and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest of all time. It would be understandable if he rested on his laurels but that is the last thing on his mind as he is as dedicated and motivated as ever.

Steph said: “I have gratitude and an appreciation for the skill set and ability that I’ve been given and the work that I’ve put into it, I don’t ever want to cheat that.

“That underrated mindset is always a part of my DNA and how I approach anything so you’ll never see me take my foot off the gas pedal until the ball really stops bouncing and I can’t do it at the level I want to do it anymore, just because I don’t want to take for granted the gifts that I’ve been given.

“Once I found out what my gift was and my passion was, whatever I pour into it, I try to maintain it as long as I can. The biggest thing is just having fun. I try to bring joy to everything I do and hopefully that comes through in the documentary, really being present in everything that I get to do.”

Stephen Curry: Underrated premieres globally on Apple TV+ today (Friday 21st July 2023) – you can sign up to Apple TV+ here.

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