Steph Curry’s basketball dominance wasn’t always as guaranteed as his three-point shot.
While Curry has four championship rings, two NBA MVP titles and one upcoming NBC sitcom on his resume, the Golden State Warriors star has always felt like he’s had something to prove. (Just look at the hole in one he netted while winning the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament on July 17.)
And the 35-year-old’s dynamic rise from undersized college player to one of the sports world’s most beloved figures is the focus of Stephen Curry: Underrated, now playing in select theatres and streaming on Apple TV+.
“The underrated mindset has always been a part of who I am,” Curry told E! News in an exclusive interview. “This documentary tells us why and shows how that mindset was developed.”
Spoiler alert: His championship mentality was fostered by his family—including his father, former NBA player Dell Curry—at a young age, with Curry noting he was given the “the ability to have the space to commit myself to my passion.”
Basically, he was taught to shoot his shot both figuratively and literally.
“One of their principles was to introduce us to everything and what we wanted to really commit ourselves to and what we found joy in and they were supportive of whatever that was,” Curry said of his parents’ approach to raising him and his siblings, including fellow NBA star Seth Curry and volleyball player Sydel Curry. “So, finding basketball and committing to it at 13, and going through the ranks, they supported me every step of the way.”
Underrated, which features intimate interviews with those closest to Curry, gave the 9-time NBA All-Star an opportunity to reflect on every milestone of his career and realize “how important” his family has been along the way.
Finding the balance between the professional and the personal is a lesson Curry’s parents instilled in him and it’s one he hopes to pass on to his three children with wife of 11 years Ayesha Curry—daughters Riley, 11, and Ryan, 8, and 5-year-old son Canon.