Last time Stephen Curry made an appearance at Brigham Young Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center, he brought his two NBA MVP trophies with him to show the keiki participants what was possible.
This time, he packed his medal.
Curry, the 36-year-old Golden State Warriors veteran guard and four-time league champion, is coming off a seminal career moment as the closer for Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Curry splashed in a series of 3s in both the men’s basketball semifinal win over Serbia and the final against host France, capped with his signature “night-night” motion when he clinched his first gold.
He and Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who leads Team USA, had about six weeks to recover from that early August ordeal before heading out to Hawaii for training camp.
What You Need To Know
The Golden State Warriors held Day 1 of their training camp Tuesday at BYU-Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center on Oahu’s North Shore
It was the first Golden State appearance in the islands since 2007, when the Don Nelson-led Warriors would face the Los Angeles Lakers here every other season
The Warriors enter their first season of the post-“Splash Brothers” era, as Stephen Curry’s backcourt mate Klay Thompson signed with the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason
Saturday’s 1 p.m. Hawaii time game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the University of Hawaii’s SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center sold out as of Tuesday night
[Note: See below for more photos of Day 1 of Golden State Warriors training camp in Hawaii.]
Both Kerr and Curry reported feeling rejuvenated for a 2024-25 NBA campaign that could be a stylistic shift away from the Bay Area team’s well-known “Splash Brothers” past.
But whether it was Golden State’s media day at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Monday or the mix of Bay Area and local media to see the end of Day 1 of practice at the CAC a day later, it just keeps coming up.
“It was a storybook ending for sure, something I’ll remember forever,” Curry said to a packed semicircle. “And I think it’s just good momentum to build off of, personally. I’m going to get the most out of this game that I can, coming into my 16th year. It’s easy to find motivation through that.
“I even brought my medal with me,” the NBA’s career leader in 3-pointers added with a smile. “I keep it on me.”
Kerr, the 10th-year Golden State coach who helped guide the franchise to NBA titles in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022, got his first medal as a head coach after being on staff under Gregg Popovich for gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games. He compared this summer’s recovery process favorably to last year, when the FIBA World Cup allowed only a couple weeks of recovery before training camp.
“I’ve had plenty of time to rest and recharge, and Steph feels the same way,” Kerr said. “I talked to him about it today. We’re feeling great and excited about playing Saturday.”
The @warriors (of Golden State) make their first preseason camp appearance in Hawaii since 2007, up at BYU-Hawaii on the North Shore. pic.twitter.com/2ibm2wudks
— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) October 2, 2024
The Warriors are in Hawaii for the first time since 2007, and seventh time all-time. In the 2000s, the franchise, then based in Oakland and coached by Don Nelson, was booked as a semi-regular preseason foil for the Los Angeles Lakers (2001, 2003, 2005, ’07).
This time, they will face a different designated home team in the Los Angeles Clippers. Both California franchises should have plenty of representation at 10,300-seat SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for Saturday’s 1 p.m. preseason game that sold out by Tuesday night.
Unlike the Clippers, the Warriors have rarely strayed far from the Bay Area for training camp. Even in the years they visited Japan or China in the preseason, they began camp at home.
Not so this time – a first for Curry’s 16 years with the franchise. Warriors players and staff were allowed to bring their families. (Curry appeared on the North Shore in 2016 for his own skills camp.)
The last Warriors appearance here was two years before Curry was drafted out of Davidson in 2009, altering the course of the franchise. In 2012 he paired with Washington State’s Klay Thompson to become the greatest-shooting backcourt ever.
But Thompson, coming off a series of difficult seasons of severe injuries and prolonged recovery, could not agree to an extension with Warriors management last year and signed a three-year, $50 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks this summer.
It broke up the championship trio that included versatile forward Draymond Green. Curry was open about his anguish on the matter.
The Warriors brought in veterans Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton to help supplement Curry, Green, Andrew Wiggins, up-and-coming wing Jonathan Kuminga and veteran center Kevon Looney.
It’s an open question who will start at the 2-guard spot alongside Curry, whom Kerr says is the only lock to start. The sweet-shooting Hield, defensive-minded Melton or hustling Gary Payton II are the prime candidates.
“It feels a lot different. This feels like a true beginning for us, in a lot of ways,” Kerr said. “Part of that is the void that Klay leaves. He’s been part of the foundation, part of our heart and soul for 12 years. Him leaving is a pretty dramatic change, so we have to turn that into positive. There is a void that he has left, on and off the floor. It gives us a chance to reinvent ourselves a little bit. We’re going to miss him. I can’t wait to see him when we comes back with Dallas. But we have to move on, he has to move on, and that means we have to figure out what our identity is as a team.”
Curry said he feels like the Warriors still have enough talent to be relevant in a hyper-competitive Western Conference, and that he’ll do what it takes to adjust as necessary. At his age, he acknowledged, it’s about shooting for maximum efficiency instead of volume.
At the CAC, he put himself through one of his signature post-practice shooting sessions – a series of curls around assistant coaches setting screens followed by dribble-pull ups or floaters.
While Curry was as deadly as ever from long range last year (an NBA-leading 357 3-pointers made) Golden State went 46-36 and missed the playoffs as the 10th-place team in the West.
“We need to evolve how we’re featuring the talent we have on this team,” Curry said. “I think you have enough, just putting guys in the right place to be successful, and leveraging what’s worked in our system over the years.”
“Giving yourself to the team,” Curry said of what’s key. “It starts with me, Draymond, all the way down, because you can’t do the same thing and expect a different result.”
One of France’s Olympic players, NBA veteran Nicolas Batum, is on the Clippers’ roster. He might hope for one on Saturday.
Golden State forward Draymond Green, middle, sat and talked on the side after Day 1 of Warriors training camp. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Warriors guard Gary Payton II filmed teammates after practice. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke to the media. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Stephen Curry smiled as he went through his post-practice shooting routine. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
The Warriors added veteran forward Kyle Anderson in the offseason. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Stephen Curry, left, worked with Warriors assistants on his drives to the basket. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
