Yahoo Sports Stephen Curry: Stakes of next presidential election are 'extremely high' after last four years
As more than 20 Democratic presidential candidates pack the primary race, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry isn’t sure who to support, similar to the millions of undecided Democratic voters.
He still thinks the winner is going to have a big responsibility on his hands.
Stephen Curry talks politics
During a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Curry discussed the Warriors’ past and suddenly fraught future, a post-NBA Finals altercation involving a police officer and Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and his Hollywood production career. But the most pressing of all the topics was politics.
Curry, who reportedly communicates monthly with Democratic former president Barack Obama, said he still isn’t sure who he’s supporting in the crowded Democratic field.
Via the New York Times:
“Let’s just say that I don’t have a relationship with anybody that’s running,” Curry said. “Maybe that will develop over time. But I haven’t gotten into that game yet.”
But he did say the stakes of the next presidential election were “extremely high,” “especially with how these last four years have been in terms of exposing a lot of nastiness that still exists in our country.”
Curry has waded into the world of politics before, once finding an interesting way to insult President Donald Trump earlier in his presidency. You can imagine Curry will wade back in sometime in the future, but we’ll see at what point in the election that will be.
Stephen Curry talks Raptors president Masai Ujiri
If there was an unanticipated storyline to come out of the 2019 NBA Finals, which the Warriors lost in six games, it was Raptors president Masai Ujiri’s run-in with a police officer on his way to the court to accept the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office claims the executive struck the unnamed officer with two fists after being asked for a credential to enter the floor, but multiple eyewitness have disputed that account and video evidence hasn’t definitively decided the matter for either side.
Curry recalled seeing a shaken Ujiri after the incident, and also wondered if racial politics could have played a role:
“You know what’s crazy? I saw him after,” Curry said, referring to Ujiri. “I didn’t know anything about this situation. But looking back, I saw his face and I could tell something had happened.”
Curry said he had seen cellphone videos from bystanders and read the news reports about the incident.
“If he didn’t do anything wrong, obviously, you’d hope that it was handled in a better fashion,” he said. “Especially for a guy that was going out and trying to celebrate with his team that had done something historical. So I don’t know if that was a white G.M. or whatever, if that’s handled differently. You can always play the what-if game.”
Ujiri is facing misdemeanor charges over the incident, which one lawyer said left the deputy’s jaw with a concussion and serious jaw injury.
Stephen Curry talks the Warriors
While politics are obviously a more important theater than sports, the stakes of Curry’s next season are also extremely high. Both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson will miss significant time next season after respectively suffering an Achilles rupture and ACL tear in the Finals. Both players are also at risk of leaving in free agency, though Thompson’s dad indicated the shooting guard is staying put.
Whatever happens, Curry will likely be shouldering his heaviest offensive load since the beginning of the Warriors’ run of five straight NBA Finals:
“I run a lot more than the next guy,” Curry said. “There’s really just an understanding of my training and the things I do to get myself ready. I can withstand that type of output night after night. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to require another level of discipline.”
Curry also analyzed the most difficult part of the Warriors’ season, which surprisingly wasn’t the Finals:
“This regular season was the hardest one we’ve ever had in terms of keeping everything together,” Curry said. “Not because of anything more than it’s just mentally challenging to perform at this level every single night. When we got to the playoffs, it was the most fun I think we’ve had, minus the injuries, obviously. That was tough all the way across the board.
One thing Curry will not obligated to do is participate in LeBron James’ Space Jam 2, which the point guard confirmed he wouldn’t appear in due to “scheduling issues.” The fact that the movie is set up to glorify his greatest rival in James and that he has own production company with “Unanimous” also probably helped make the decision.
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