Stephen Curry entered the NBA back in 2009 after his junior year at Davidson, but he nearly decided to stay another year in college. Stephen’s wife, Ayesha, appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, where she revealed her husband was in two minds and teared up as he contemplated which route he should take.
“So he had a big decision to make because he had a year left,” Ayesha said. “He had a senior year left. So it was like, ‘Do I stay? Do I go?’ And I think what a lot of people don’t know is he really thought about it. It was like a torment for him. He called me crying behind a tree, like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ And I’ll stand like 10 toes down on this. It’s not a secret. I was like, ‘Stay at school.’”
Stephen had become a national sensation for his exploits at Davidson. He had led the college to the Elite Eight in 2008 and followed that up by averaging 28.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.5 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game as a junior. He had a difficult decision to make, but his then-girlfriend, whom he would later marry in 2011, was pretty clear on what he should do.
Stephen and Ayesha were in a long-distance relationship at that point. He was in Charlotte while she was in Los Angeles, and despite his potentially moving closer to her by going to the NBA, she wanted him to stay at Davidson.
“I didn’t grow up surrounded by people who went to college,” Ayesha stated. “That for me was like, wow, what a blessing, you get to go to college. You get to have an education. Why would you leave? And then not coming from that sports background and understanding how rare the opportunity he had was.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, stay in school,'” Ayesha continued. “… But I’m glad he decided to leave, and then he ended up finishing anyway and has gone on to do tremendous, incredible, cool s*** that we never thought would happen.”
Going to the NBA was the right decision. The Golden State Warriors selected Stephen with the seventh pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, and the rest is history. He has won four titles, one Finals MVP, two MVPs, and two scoring titles. That’s not too bad considering Ayesha didn’t even expect him to make it to the NBA at one point.
Stephen would also return to Davidson to complete his coursework and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 2022. He had his jersey number retired by the college and is currently their assistant general manager.
Stephen’s main focus is on the Warriors, though. The 11-time All-Star wants to win his fifth championship and urged the Warriors to make moves to take them to the next level.
The Warriors made it to the Western Conference Semifinals last season, where they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games. Stephen, who averaged 24.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2024-25, missed the last four games of that series after suffering a hamstring strain in Game 1.
Would the outcome have been different if the 11-time All-Star were healthy? We’ll never know for sure.
