Stephen Curry has never been your typical NBA superstar, and that goes beyond his deep threes and revolutionary style of play. As he revealed in a recent interview with Complex’s Speedy Mormon, during the height of the Golden State Warriors’ dominance, Curry used to hop on social media at halftime even when they were losing by double digits.
“I used to be on what was Twitter, back when Vine was a thing. I was part of that whole wave. I used to send snapshots to my people, like do my own kind of in-game interview. We’d be down 16, and I’d take a selfie like this, like, ‘What we about to do?’ Just having fun with it.”
“I’ve slowed down a little bit. As you get older, the recovery part of halftime becomes a big deal, so I’ve got to use my energy a lot differently.”
“We had some irrational confidence, especially in that window when people started asking about it. My favorite one, this lady named Kerith Burke, she worked for NBC Sports Bay Area, the story kind of got out that I liked to look at my phone during halftime, which was true.”
“One time she was on Twitter and added me saying, ‘If you’re reading this, do an airplane celebration after your first three in the second half.’ Just threw a shot in the dark. I saw it, hit a three, and did it.”
That famous Warriors “irrational confidence” wasn’t just a meme. It was a mindset. Down 16? That was nothing for a team that could explode for 20 points in five minutes. Curry embodied that swagger, and part of it meant staying loose.
So while most players used halftime to recover and refocus, Steph was browsing mentions, checking Twitter, and sometimes even accepting dares.
One such moment came when NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke posted a playful tweet:
During halftime, @KerithBurke asked Steph to do an airplane celebration and he did it 😂 pic.twitter.com/ynJnwj1RnD
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 16, 2021
Curry admits those days are mostly behind him now. At 37, he’s focused more on recovery, hydration, and maintaining his body during those precious few minutes in the locker room. Yet he’s reflective enough to acknowledge that his behavior may have set a precedent.
What started as a quirky superstition or boredom breaker eventually became an example of how drastically the NBA’s culture has shifted in the digital age. Now, Curry often sits at halftime and looks around the locker room, everyone glued to their screens, while he stays quiet, the veteran in the room, knowing the grind is different at 37.
But make no mistake. Steph Curry still has fun. He’s still the same player who once took a selfie down 16 and laughed in the face of pressure. He’s just wiser now, sometimes that means putting the phone down and picking up the win.
