Thompson: In Paris, the world witnessed Steph Curry’s joy

PARIS — The atmosphere in the mixed athletics zone on the lower level of the Stade de France felt like a locker room and a pizza kitchen sharing a space. Warm and stinking enough to sweat just standing. Waiting became a cruel joke. And Rai Benjamin, the clutch anchor leg who secured gold for the U.S. men’s 4×400 relay team, took forever.

Suddenly my phone vibrated like a massage gun. It’s happened before. I knew exactly what it was without looking. So I didn’t look.

On this assignment I was a track reporter, which is the definition of hectic at the Olympics. Benjamin was my focus. Not that there was a flood of notifications coming my way. But the longer it took for the relay team to come out, the harder it was to not snap. Finally I gave in and peeked away. The most recent notification was a text message.

“GIVE THIS MAN SOME HELP”

Still no relay team. Still getting messages. Still sweating like an extra in an antebellum film.

Okay, Steph Curry. You win.

I turned on the game just in time to hear the shot that was heard ’round the world. I knew it was going in the moment he launched it. I didn’t need to be in the building to see what was happening. It was an all too familiar vibe coming through the screen.

The shot itself — the decisive 3-pointer in the gold-medal victory over France on Saturday, his 17th three-pointer in two games on just 26 attempts — was without any novelty. The world’s best shooter getting hot is about as normal as “Freed from desire” is played during a sporting event in Paris. (Warning: If you click on the link, you will be exposed to a song with the same addictive properties as a children’s commercial.) And Team USA winning a gold medal is hardly news.

Yet the moment resonated like a legendary ghost around the world. The global superstar delivered a global performance. The world, through the lens of Paris — aptly known as the City of Art, the City of Light, and the City of Love — beheld the Joy of Curry.

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All I could do was smile at the happiness of the Parisian crowd two trains and 11 metro stops away from me at Bercy Arena, and the unaffiliated around the world who were drawn to basketball by the prestige of the Olympics. They can now claim the privilege of a uniquely American adventure.

Because Curry — when he finally arrived in Paris three days earlier, according to Anthony Edwards — gave the final presentation of Curry’s lasting legacy. It’s bigger than him being the game’s best shooter. It’s even bigger than four world championships and two NBA MVPs.

His greatest legacy, a long-standing principle for Warriors and Davidson fans and devoted Curry followers, is the experienceand of himself. Curry’s greatness is not truly understood until it is felt. It cannot be fully understood until it is seen.

SPLASH AFTER SPLASH AFTER SPLASH AFTER SPLASH! 💦

Steph Curry couldn’t miss in the final minutes! #Olympic Games in Paris photo.twitter.com/jM8xnR80Tx

— NBC Sport (@NBCSports) August 11, 2024

In this viral age where everything is captured and aggregated, nothing is missed, and impressive things are consumed to the point of mundanity, Curry manages to be a must-be-there thing. The confluence of his talent and skills, his dichotomous personality of arrogance and humility, his work ethic, his limitations, and his story produce a kind of magic of its own. It’s unique enough to maintain its entertainment value despite the frequency.

And now on the Olympic stage, against the French national team, with the future of basketball in the person of Victor Wembanyama, in a thrilling match in Paris, with the gold medal at stake.

The magnitude of this event was different.

Seismic enough to surprise LeBron and KD. Seeing the three of them in the same uniform hugging, yelling at each other with unbridled unity, had all the warmth and feelings of the end of a Tom Hanks movie.

Makes you realize how much waste there has been over the years of pitting them against each other, in which the athletes themselves participated. Makes you shake your head at the people who then and now continue to find ways to belittle Curry in the name of another star. (And vice versa.)

No. 1: Comparison is the thief of joy, so the tribalistic obsession with rankings only robbed them of one of basketball’s purest pleasures. It’s almost thankless to watch Curry and LeBron James and Kevin Durant play untainted by the privilege of opportunity. No. 2: They were ALWAYS going to end up here, rivals turned homies, competitors turned brothers. They’re all in such an exclusive group, they’d feel lonely if they didn’t eventually embrace the few who can identify with their level. The way these guys are built, the way they think about the game, the lovefest we saw at these Olympics was inevitable. And the lines between their kingdoms would look ridiculous the moment the kings embraced.

Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant of Team USA celebrate their victory on the podium during the men’s basketball medal ceremony at Bercy Arena on August 10, 2024 in Paris, France. (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

That’s another layer to this ultimate moment — how much this means to Curry. Everything about him is Team USA. All the feelings and intangibles of honor, coupled with how his game translates. Dell Curry, and then Davidson coach Bob McKillop, groomed him with so many aspects that maximize the USA Basketball experience. The selflessness. The camaraderie. The brotherhood of hoopers. The sportsmanship. The appreciation for putting on the jersey and playing against those with their own national pride. Curry has been indoctrinated in this way his entire life.

I remember finally getting an answer from him about the Rio Olympics. He had slipped on Donatas Motiejūnas’s sweat in the first round of the 2016 Western Conference playoffs and twisted his knee. He missed the next four games, but even when he came back, he was compromised. Toward the end of the playoffs, he finally had to face the reality of the Warriors’ playoff run: the offseason would be devoted to healing that knee. He was so dejected that he said it out loud.

He was injured in 2012, but his chances of making the team were slim. He was injured in 2016. He opted out of the Tokyo Quarantine Games in the wake of the pandemic (which pushed the games back a year) and a grueling season with the Warriors. He was 0-for-3 on one of the biggest assets of his rise to stardom.

So you can imagine how valuable he found it to be there and that at 36 he was still good enough to deliver such spectacular performances.

And the other part that is clearly important to him, sentimental even, is doing it with James and Durant. Doing it with the young stars to whom he has the honor of passing the torch.

Curry has had a full career. He’s had incredible games and bad games. Great moments and embarrassing moments. The highest glory and the heartbreak that never goes away. Huge wins and huge losses. You’ll never meet another NBA player who values ​​all of these things more than Curry. They’re all rites of passage into the brotherhood of NBA superstars. And as the kid who grew up with them, following in the footsteps of his sharpshooting father, Curry values ​​that honor immensely.

That was the only thing missing: an Olympic gold medal, the Team USA experience.

So delivering as teammates with the greatest players of all time, players he’s been battling for so many years, is better than any throw he’s made. Better than the gold he’s wearing now.

He was of LeBron for this one. Of KD. Of Devin Booker and Jrue Holiday. Of Carmelo Antonius. Of Ty Lue and Erik Spoelstra, who had spent years trying to exploit his weaknesses. His entire biological family was with him for this international party. The chantilly at its best: Curry stood next to Steve Kerr, his championship coach, with his basketball brother Draymond Green in the audience, to whom Curry shouted: “Don’t worry ’bout me!” This was a big moment for a big person.

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But to answer many of the texts I received: Yes, I am in Paris. No, I was not there there. I thought that was fine too.

I had just watched Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone run a 47.71 split in the second leg of the women’s 4×400-meter relay — the women’s 400-meter world record is 47.60 — and it was so fast and smooth that everyone on the track felt like there was a stop-motion animation. I had earlier watched the best men’s 100-meter race of my life, maybe ever, when Noah Lyles won by 0.005 seconds. That’s how long it takes for a butterfly to flap its wings 10 times. I watched Cole Hocker shock the world in the men’s 1500-meter race. I watched Sha’Carri Richardson poke through the rain and stare at the runner-up as she led her to gold.

That’s the beauty of the Olympics. It’s two weeks of having to be there in multiple sports. Curry provided one of the most seismic moments, but not the only one. The Olympics are filled with legends.

And while we’re on the subject, here’s Rai Benjamin. Finally.

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(Top photo of Stephen Curry: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)