The generation of stars that were drafted in the 2000s are slowly becoming the oldest players in the NBA and have a wealth of experience under their belt. Top stars in the league like LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and others were all drafted in the 2000s and are seeing their era end to newer players like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, among others.
It’s easy to forget how long Steph Curry has been in the league, considering he was drafted 13 years ago in 2009. Curry is officially reaching that age where many of the coaches around the league are former players he played against. Some examples of that are Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and the coach he is facing in the NBA Finals, Ime Udoka.
Udoka was a player for the Sacramento Kings in 2009 when Curry was drafted into the league. The pair played against each other 6 times before Udoka retired, with the coach holding a 4-2 record over Curry as players.
A full circle moment 😳
Ime Udoka goes from playing against Curry to coaching against him in the NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/pbjeX9IPoM
— ESPN (@espn) May 30, 2022
Udoka played for two teams in these six games, the first being the Kings and then with the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs was where he got ingratiated into Gregg Popovich’s coaching tree after his career was over, working through team positions to finally be given a head coaching role in Boston.
The most Curry scored against a team with Udoka on it was 32 points in their last encounter against each other. Udoka was a role player but did have 19 points and 14 rebounds in a game against Curry’s Warriors while still on the Kings.
Udoka won’t have to worry about guarding Curry anymore, but he will have to worry about getting one of his players to do it. It’s wild to see how different Curry’s and Udoka’s paths have been, yet they meet at the same place in 2022. In the NBA Finals.
