Steph Curry, Warriors help give Oregon teen special night
After the Warriors' win over the Blazers Thursday night, Stephen Curry
met with high school basketball player who overcame cerebral palsy to play
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry holds up the Kobe Bryant Trophy
after being named the MVP of the NBA All-Star basketball game, Sunday,
Feb. 20, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry holds up the Kobe Bryant Trophy
after being named the MVP of the NBA All-Star basketball game, Sunday,
Feb. 20, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
By ALEX SIMON | asimon@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: February 26, 2022 at 1:31 p.m. | UPDATED: February 28, 2022
at 10:10 a.m.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNWMJ8jfTXQ

Stephen Curry has frequently spoken about being a role model.

Last week, when the Warriors were in Portland, Curry met with Matthew
Spellman, an Oregon high schooler who overcame cerebral palsy to become
a varsity basketball player.

During the All-Star break, The Oregonian wrote about Spellman’s path to
making the varsity team and all he overcame — born three months
premature, with brain damage that led doctors to tell his parents he’d
never be able to walk. In the story, Spellman said he had been a big fan
of Curry since the Warriors drafted him in 2009.

Curry and the Warriors saw the story and made plans to give Spellman VIP
treatment at Thursday night’s game between the Warriors and the
TrailBlazers Spellman watched Curry’s renowned pregame warm-up drills
from a seat on the baseline and then met with Curry following the game.

[video: Oregon high school student meets hero Stephe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNWMJ8jfTXQ]

After dropping 18 points and 14 assists in the Warriors’ 132-95 win,
Curry chatted with Spellman and signed multiple autographs for him and
his family. Spellman’s mom Cheryl told Curry “you have made his life.”

“It was awesome,” Spellman told The Oregonian. “I can’t believe I met
Steph.”

Curry knows he has fans all over the world who grew up idolizing him,
and it’s a responsibility he takes seriously. After being named MVP of
the All-Star Game last Sunday, Curry went on NBA TV’s postgame show and
was asked by Isiah Thomas about being the “face of the league.”

Curry’s answer: “It’s how you impact the next generation of basketball
players,” Curry said. “How basketball has a much farther reach outside
of the 94 feet in terms of impacting communities, giving back, changing
narratives in society, all of those type of things. If I can be
representative of that? Nobody’s perfect, but [if I can] be as close to
the full package in terms of taking advantage and leveraging all of
those for some amazing change and good things, then I’m going to keep
doing it.

“Basketball is such a vehicle for a lot of amazing things. It’s changed
my life, obviously. And I want to keep doubling down on that and
honoring that position.”

--
Alex Simon