Inglewood, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) smiles on the court after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers during the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Inglewood, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) smiles on the court after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers during the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Stephen Curry apparently found an unusual source of motivation during games: people criticizing him on social media.
Former Golden State Warriors guard Damion Lee said that Curry would occasionally search his own name on Twitter whenever he was struggling and read negative comments about his performance.
Lee shared the story during an appearance on the Straight to Cam podcast alongside Cameron Brink and Sydel Curry-Lee.
Cameron Brink: “He looks up his own highlights when he’s bored. That’s amazing. I don’t have enough highlights to look up when I’m bored. Just be like four minutes.”
Sydel-Lee Curry: “You talked about how he used to read hate comments on Twitter.”
Damion Lee: “I was next to him in the locker room. He would type in his name on Twitter at halftime, and it’d be like, ‘Oh, Stephen Curry this,’ whatever. He’d look at it for probably like a minute or two and scroll, close his phone, put it down, and then go crazy in the second.”
Considering how much professional athletes are criticized on social media, actively searching for mean and harsh comments sounds like a dangerous strategy. It could motivate you, make you lose your focus, or completely destroy your confidence.
For Curry, however, it apparently made him a better player.
There was also another reason why Curry using Twitter during halftime became particularly interesting. He could occasionally see comments from fans and reporters without ever responding to them directly.
Lee remembered one instance when Warriors reporter Kerith Burke essentially tested whether Curry was actually using Twitter at halftime.
Damion Lee: “And one time, Kerith Burke, one of the reporters from the Warriors, tweeted right before halftime, ‘Steph, if you see this, I want you to do airplane arms after you make a three.’ He made one three, boom, and then he made another three and then ran down doing airplane arms.”
Cameron Brink: “He’s just a big kid.”
Sydel-Lee Curry: “Could you do that? Would that motivate you?”
Cameron Brink: “No, I’m just a sensitive gangster over here.”
Lee’s story provides another unique glimpse into Curry’s mentality during the Warriors’ championship runs. Most players would probably be advised to stay away from their phones and social media, especially when emotions are running high during a game. Curry seemingly did the opposite.
Lee played alongside Curry from 2018 to 2022 and was part of the Warriors’ 2022 championship run. He therefore witnessed plenty of Curry’s biggest performances from inside the Warriors’ locker room.
Curry has built his reputation through his out-of-this-world shooting and nonstop movement, but stories like this show another side of his competitive personality.
Apparently, sometimes all Curry needed to take over a second half was a phone, a Twitter search, and somebody telling him that he didn’t have it anymore.