The Second Coming Of Stephen Curry

The unstoppable guard helmed one of the best offensive teams in NBA history. Two years after that dynasty fell apart, he’s willing the Warriors towards another championship run— and underlining his claim as one of the game’s all-time greats.

- Hanif Abdurraqib

CALM THAT hovers over the streets around the Chase Center in San Francisco late on a night when no basketball is being played is intoxicating. That is, until you walk inside. That same calm gives way to an eeriness— the space is cavernous and labyrinthian, hallways collapsing into hallways. A corner light flickers in a series of hiccups. Music echoes from some undetermined distance. Following the sounds, I’m led to a kind of makeshift subterranean gym. Laughter rises from a group of handlers, circled around Stephen Curry, who’s dressed as if he’s just finished a workout. At his feet rest two 30-pound barbells branded with the Golden State Warriors logo. A Warriors towel rests on his head. Drake’s Certified Lover Boy ricochets off the walls.

It’s here, in the belly of the Warriors’ arena, that Stephen Curry has diligently remade himself and his team. And glimpsing him in this private lair, just before our interview, is like witnessing a superhero’s origin story. Except it’s the sequel, the story of his rebirth. Our hero is better than before, the mythology more grandiose. In an instant, there’s a song shift. Once the beat drops on “You Only Live Twice”, Curry is newly energized, grinning underneath the shadow of the towel, gesturing with his hands, shaking his head on beat. The song serves as an appropriate anthem for a player in the throes of a second NBA life, making the impossible look easy in new ways.