Getty Stephen Curry reacts during a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets.
What Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has been able to do this season — as a 34-year-old… in his 14th year as an NBA player — has been amazing on an almost unprecedented level. And that’s saying something when you’re talking about a GOAT candidate who has made amazing his brand.
As of this writing, Curry is averaging 31.4 points, 7.0 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game. Entering 2022-23, only four players had ever logged such a line for an entire season — Oscar Robertson (twice), Michael Jordan, James Harden (twice) and Russell Westbrook. And none of them did so after their age 30 seasons.
By all accounts, Steph’s otherworldy conditioning has been a major part of his success this season. But the Dubs star didn’t achieve that level of cardio by accident; his workout routine is more than most players can even handle. According to his trainer, Brandon Payne, one player was so affected by it that he lost his lunch.
“We’ve had a player who’s still in the NBA go through the first five minutes, sat down on the floor beside the door for about 30 seconds and went outside and threw up and was done,” Payne revealed recently on the Basketball Illuminati podcast. “It was a good player, too”
Hawks Star Struggled to Keep Pace With Steph, Too
Payne explained some of the drills that he does with Steph to hosts Amin Elhassan and Tom Haberstroh and, considering everything that goes into them, it’s not difficult to envision someone getting sick while doing them.
“We never do anything from one range,” Payne said. “We’ve done alternating range form shooting, which for us, is deep twos and semi-deep threes, we work in that range. We immediately go corner-to-corner, we start running and you run for four shots at a time. Then when we have two guys going, you shoot four shots corner-to-corner but we’re playing until the first guy hits 12. Well, if you’re not making a lot of shots, there’s a lot of running involved. It’s corner-to-corner then it’s free throws, then it’s something off the dribble.”
When Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young attempted to go the rounds with Steph, it looked like he was wearing a “heavy vest,” according to Payne. The baller eventually managed to persevere, though.
“After he caught himself, he was good, he was ready and he finished the entire workout… That initial burst of those initial few minutes was a little tough on him, but he recovered extremely well.”
Rapper Jokes About Joining Warriors
Symba, whose latest single “Welcome 2 My Season” is set to drop on Friday, December 2, just hinted at a major career change. In conjunction with the new track dropping, the hip-hop artist held a faux press conference, during which he announced his intention to quit the rap game and fill the Warriors’ open roster spot.
“I’m here to announce the retirement of my rap career and the beginning of my basketball career. I’m officially signed as a Golden State Warrior,” he said in a video shared via Instagram. “You ever seen Like Mike? Welcome to Like Symba.”
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