Hey.

Listener, it's Stephan. I'm here a little early for my episode. I think we're probably waiting for Jason to clean his golf shoes and get his equipment going, which is very disrespectful for the golf community. But nevertheless, I'm here. This is Smartless.

Smart.

Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart.

Smart. Smart. Smart.

Listener, we had a record earlier this morning. Went very well, very fun, nice. Today's a two-fer. And we had a three-hour break, something like that.

Yeah? What did you guys do? Will took a nap.

Will did.

You really? I did take a nap.

I did too.

No way. I took a little nap, not too long. I watched obviously.

Some soccer. You watched Arsenal get their first loss, huh?

I did watch Arsenal get their first loss, so this is dating this podcast, but I did watch that match. It was very controversial.

Was it?

Yeah, there's a very controversial goal because they lost 1-0 and there was a controversial goal. People are really mad at the VAR, the video assistant referee.

We don't need to put the audience into their own nap going over this. Sean, what did you do? I did.

I took a little nap. Did you have some lunch.

Before.

You nap? I had a BLT. You did? Yeah, I had a BLT with extra mail.

Fuck, your food is always so special. Do you ever just have normal shit?

What's not normal about a BLT?

You have to make the bacon and put it on.

The side. No, he lives next to a Soniq. Do you live next to a Soniq? He always has to live within four miles of a Soniq. I can't track.

Hey, can I guess what bread it was on?

It was toaster white. It was just regular white bread, country white.

Will, have you ever bought.

A loaf of- I know it was from the country, but that.

Sounds better. Will, have you ever bought a loaf of white bread?

Sure.

Really?

Have you ever what is it?

Bought a loaf of white bread.

Of course. What are you talking about?

Would you say I? I don't know if I have. Yeah, of course, I have. I will say that the little kids, they like.

White toasted. White bread.

They get a...

I don't know. It's children's food. That's all.

Sean eats. I eat white bread and drink milk almost.

Every day. Kid food. What did you guys have? Jason, you and Amanda went over for dinner the other night.

What did we have? That was a lovely dinner.

Beautiful roasted chicken and roasted vegetables and a salad. We had to hear about it the whole time. Scott and Sean were fucking furious that that's what they had to eat because we were there.

No, we knew you're coming over, so we made sure it was Jason and Amanda food. And then for dessert, there was brownies. This is Jason, Amanda versus Sean and Scottie. We had the brownies. They had chocolate covered dates.

Listen.

True. That's true.

Well, first of all, you supplied them thinking we would enjoy them.

But you didn't touch the brownie.

Oh, I sure did. I touched it big. You did? My mouth touched it.

I've seen, Jay, sometimes on a Sunday night, somebody will bring usually you and Scottie, and somebody else will bring a dessert. I've seen Jason get overshared.

I have addiction issues.

But Eli was asking me today about dinner. I don't know in any way. I said hes asked me, Jason, what you... Oh, we were talking about Atlanta.

I.

Was saying, he was like, Well, did he order in a lot when he was living up there in that building where we ended up? I said, no.

No, I'm asleep by 7:30. He gets a salad and comes home.

Home by 7:30, he'll have a little salad and some crackers.

Well, dinner, yeah.

True story. Really?

I've had his crackers. Listen, the body is no fluke. This body right here, it doesn't just.

Happen- But last night at dinner, Jason, last night at dinner, we were at a restaurant. I have a McCarthy salad, no bacon, sauce- Dressing on the side. -dressing on the side, and then something else. No egg or something? Nope.

Just don't fucking mix it and give me the dressing.

Which dressing did you ask for for that? I know the place.

Yeah, it's just a balsamic venegret thingy. Yeah, it's nice.

It's real nice.

You don't want a heavy pour on the salad. It just ruins all the vegetables.

I don't like a drinking salad dressing.

Yeah, I don't think so. I doubt it. All right. Now you want to talk about somebody who knows what to do with themselves when it comes to taking care of themselves. I got a guest for you. Hold on. Let me pull up my notes here. There's that. And here's this. Here we come. Ready? Yeah. Quiet. Today we have someone who is equally successful in personal accomplishments as he is in teamwork. He is as rich as he is philanthropic. He is as famous as he is soft-spoken. This man was the first to have been voted MVP unanimously in NBA history. He has nine NBA All-Star selections. He has four NBA championships. And he was the first player to hit 103 pointers in the NBA Finals. He is widely regarded as the greatest shooter in NBA history. He's not a bad golfer either, and he's our guest today. Say hello to Steph Curry.

What? Shut.

Steph.

Yes.

From... Door. Hello, Jeff.

Is this a booking? Is this a front door?

Is this a side door? Shut the back door. Shut it down.

I can't believe this. And I'm married a Canadian.

And you're married a Canadian, and you spent a lot of time in Toronto.

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Mark them to the exact.

I'm very excited you're here today.

Thank you, fellas. It's great to be on.

Great to meet you, man.

Yeah, really nice to meet you.

Sean, you don't have to fake it, okay?

I'll introduce myself later to Sean. Let's talk about that. It goes deeper. Resume.

I, of course, know who you are. I'm very impressed with you and your life.

Yeah, it's incredible. Now, are we recording this at three o'clock because you had to play golf this morning?

I wish. I had a really great golf season, I guess, in the summer. I think I saw you out there on the links, passing by your neck of the woods. But come October, when we start our season, the golf clubs developed some cobwebs.

Pretty quick. You don't take them with you at all?

I try to. I play maybe twice a month, if I'm lucky. But we are in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, right now. I'm between three games and four nights. So as a 35-year-old in my 15th year, most of the time is dedicated to staying as youthful as possible.

Now, what's the big key on that for you? What do you try to avoid that gets you super duper tired? Blts.

Blts and white bread. Seriously, I was laughing when I was talking about Sean's lunch. I was like, I wish I could have had that. That's right.

Right, Steph? Yeah, we know each other.

Sean, show him your cookie pouch. This is what Steph's trying to avoid. This is a cookie pouch. There it is.

But you know what? I bet when you're 53, you might have one.

I might have one. Yeah, so watch out. Something to look forward to.

Did your dad ever get himself a cookie pouch after he stopped playing?

He did. Really? He played 16 years in the NBA. He did? Amazing. And he did. He got drafted in '86 by Utah, Cleveland, and then he spent 10 years in Charlotte, which is where I grew up, my family. And then he ended up his last three years in Toronto, which is I lived there for three years.

I can't wait for my obvious question. You said you did it. Does that mean you wanted to do it, or was it forced upon you?

It was a little bit of both. It's forced upon you just by that's all you're in. You're in a gym all the time. You're following him and you develop a love for it. But I played other sports growing up. Baseball, football, obviously golf, too. So you.

Loved it?

You love sports? I loved it. Yeah, I loved it. I got to see most of his career, which was cool because I was born his third year in the League. And so he retired when I was thirteen. Sorry, when I was 13 when I was in Toronto. But when he retired, he definitely working out was not a priority for a while. And then when he got inspired, actually, when I got married back in 2011, that was the emphasis for him to get back in shape. He didn't want to walk down the aisle with- Right.

We even want the photos out there. But you know what, Steph? Let me ask you this. How long would a guy last in the NBA if all he ate was salad and nuts.

You know what's crazy?

I'd.

Say I'm the smallest guy usually out there. I'd be able to back that guy down in the post. If it was a salad and nut diet.

You have a hard time.

Finding them. Exactly. The vegan lifestyle is taking over the league. Is it? Surely. Honestly, I don't touch it. I don't know how they get their calories in. I know there's a science behind it. But one of my teammates, Chris Paul, now who's been think of eating for about four years, I'm fascinated by what he brings on the plane or at mealtime, how he gets his nourishment. I'm just amazed. I just stare at him. I feel like I'm an awkward associate, but I'm just staring at everything he eats and asking questions.

Like, How? You mentioned all those sports that you played growing up. Are there any sports that you're not great at? Like, just terrible at?

I've picked up a lacrosse stick once and just have no neck for figuring out how to do that. Anything really? Soccer, I guess you could say I don't have any of the flashy going on, but I'm athletic, so I could get by, I think. Right, you could fake it. There's a lot of similarities to basketball and soccer with the movement and tennis and ball.

Movement or something like that. How's your tennis game?

Tennis is solid. Pickleball is even stronger.

Pickle. See? You know what, Asha, we had our buddy John McNeil on the podcast not long ago, and we talked about the idea of kids when they're young. He's such a big proponent of kids should not just play one sport. He's like, You should play multiple sports. That's really important. It sounds like you did that.

I've prescribed to that for sure. There's so many different crossover skill sets and personalities that you interact with, the demands on your body, your mind, especially for younger kids to get exposed to be able to figure out what comes naturally, what doesn't, and how can you close that gap.

I.

Didn't pick basketball until I was 13 as my only sport. And even then, I would still play golf on the side and have some other curiosities. But that was when I became solely focused.

That's cool. I played basketball before high school in.

Grade school. I need some footage. I need to see. Don't throw me. I've heard you talk about the different sport and experiences. I need some footage.

I remember the coach saying, give it to Hayes because I never got the ball. And give it to Hayes. He was screaming, give it to Hayes. And I would run down and all the teammates would separate. Just give me one shot every 10 games. Bless him.

He's playing it. You got a participation trophy for sure.

It's like those videos you see where they do that, where they get the towel kid and they bring him in and they let him in.

It's.

True. Hey, so, Steph, were there any significant challenges right at the beginning to playing basketball? Probably not, right? I mean, you learned early your shooting technique. I'm sure your dad helped you. Was there your height? You weren't small. You kept getting bigger. What did you top out at? How tall are you?

I'm 6'3 right now, but I was 5'7 and about 145 my freshman year in high school. There's a picture of me and my varsity team sitting upfront, cross-legged, and you're just like, Who? How we just described Sean playing basketball? If you didn't know who I was, you look at the picture, you're like, Oh, that's that kid.

So then with your dad starting to condition you for like, it's probably not going to happen for you. We'll see how tall you get, but if you don't get to X, start thinking about other things.

Yeah. That was, I mean, to the other question about was a forced on me. I'm so grateful for how my parents approached introducing me to the game because obviously, you have a dad that played 16 years, so you understand basketballs in his future. But the physicality, the deficiencies I had early, and there was always just an encouragement to just work, figure it out, build confidence as you go without really thinking about what the results were. Obviously, I knew what the NBA was. I knew what Division 1 basketball was. I knew that that was a good way to try to get a scholarship to a good school. But everything that they taught me and the coaches that I had kept me really in the moment, which is something I try to teach kids now because there's such a pressure on sports aside, it doesn't matter what you're talking about, there's such a pressure to fast forward the process and the journey of how you get there because you see the polished product forced on you every time you open up your phone. And so me shooting threes in the finals and overcoming all the adversity I had in my career, it's all just that snapshot.

But if you rewind the clock back and you talk to me when I was a sophomore in high school, the NBA was such a distant idea. I was just enjoying playing basketball and being in that environment.

But was it really, I mean, considering your lineage, right? I mean, your father, I would imagine you had all the added pressure of, if I am lucky enough to get in, am I going to be as good? How did you deal with that? Because you over-indexed there.

But not only that, Jason, think about this, too. Did you have the thing where you must have known you had good hand-eye coordination? You played golf. You played a lot of different sports. You knew that you were athletic. And so you must have had an inkling that like, Hey, if I can bring this stuff together, if I can land this plane, I'm going to do something outside of the pressure.

But if you don't, that's going to be embarrassing for you, for them. Effort. How did you deal with all that?

Yeah, it's a nice balance. And my parents, I guess, inherently, they both embodies it on the daily. My dad played 16 years. My mom was a founder of a Montessori school that I went to in elementary school. So it's like a good balance of priorities. If I start talking about I missed my first middle school game because I didn't do the dishes. That was part of my chores. This is like a written-.

Sounds like my house.

The strictness that came with the priorities, like obviously, you had to make sure you had good grades, make sure that you took care of yourself in the classroom, took care of your family and things at home. Then sports was down the way. They didn't let a slot on any of that. I think it gave us a perspective of sports is fun, and this is something that is in our family, it's in our blood. But there was always perspective. But to the point of, yeah, I knew I was talented and gifted in certain areas, but it didn't really match up to the feedback I was getting from coaches and recruiters, especially when I got to high school, because I grew up in Charlotte. My dad played 10, 11 of his 16 years there. So when you're Del Curry's son in Charlotte, people know who you are. So there is that added pressure. Anytime you step foot in the gym, they have an expectation of who you're supposed to be. But I didn't really have to... That wasn't the conversation at home, so I get away from it, if that makes sense. It's a nice, healthy.

Balance there. Did you play at school? You obviously went to school in Toronto or in.

Marketon, too. Yeah, Queensway Christian College. It doesn't exist anymore, but it was in Etobaco, Ontario.

I know Tobacow. Well, it was fromSo the topic, though, is Shannon. Brendan Chanan, who's a friend of ours who runs the Toronto Maples. A friend of the program, friend of mine. I'm a mentor to him.

I.

Just give him a lot of guidance.

He goes on and on about it.

It's crazy. Now, Steph, what's your feeling on this? I was at the Laker game the other night, and they do a great job there for the crowd and everything with the music and all that.

They'll be happy to hear that you're a proof.

I realize, well, I'm saying something nice before I say something shitty. They got music going every single time the Lakers take the ball down the court. I started thinking, well, I wonder if the Lakers are pissed off about this. They're hearing this, distracting us. Basically, they're scoring this movie with music. That's a new thing, isn't it? Didn't it used to be quiet and then they play music if something good happens now?

How do you hear.

Each other? This is part of our experience, we hear it, but it doesn't really bother affect us. Coby Bryant used to say, I guess there was a conversation he had where he talked about him working out in the summer. He used to have a dead silent because that's what he wanted to impart on the home crowd. That was the feeling he wanted. I wanted a dead silence in here, so I'm going to work out that way. I'm not that maniacal in terms of your process. But when you're out there in the court, you hear the music, the atmosphere, you hear the fans chants at you and all that type of stuff. The funny part is I've been a part of one unique game in New York, Madison Square Garden. I think it was 2017. They tried the old school method where there was no PA announcement. There was no in- arena music at all, no atmosphere. It was the crowd noise. It was like taking it back to the 1940s, '50s, whatever. It was the worst experience I've ever had. Oh, really? Yeah, of course. You just hear the shoe squeaking.

You can't really feel momentum. People clearing their voices and drop the cops and stuff.

They abandoned it at half time. They said, this is not working. Let's go back to.

That half time.

At half time.

Everybody was complaining.

So, Steph, you know how in golf, there's thing called swing thoughts, right? We have this one thing you think about, and it gets your whole swing all in a groove, right? Like just tuck the right elbow in or right finger on the shag, whatever the hell it is. Do you have a swing thought that has consistently worked for you in shooting the basketball? Like, do you think back to the rim or front of the rim or bottom of the net that puts it in a certain arc that you can count on that has worked for you over the years?

Yeah, I think the biggest, it's a thought and a feeling all at the same time. But if I'm in balance, and that can be in a lot of different things. I can be moving right, left, forward, backward, one foot, right, two feet, whatever it is. But there's a feeling of balance that no matter how many times I've been in the gym shooting any type of shot or envision, a game unfolding with your mental process and all that, I can feel when I'm in balance. And when I'm in balance, I feel like I'm never going to miss.

And so- Wow. And so you don't think too hard about it.

No, you try to keep it really simple. The muscle memory and mechanics take over. But all I'm about right before I shoot is, can I get into proper balance? And then.

From there. It is something I noticed so clearly about you. Such a unique quality of yours that you always seem to be so at ease and graceful and calm with everything that you do. Yes, you're explosive and you're fast when you need to. But for the most part, what I take away is that there's just a calmness and an ease to everything that you do that I bet every player wish they had.

Well, I'll add to that. I had the same thing because sometimes watching you in so many different situations, and obviously, you're a competitor and you see some guys get really heated, whatever, you stay very calm, you seem very present in the moment. Is that something that you work on?

Oh, for sure.

What did he was like, what's the question?

Coming out. That's where the joy comes from. There's a calmness to it. But I'm a little kid out there on the court even 15 years. If I ever lose that, then I know it'll be time to quit, because that presence and the mindfulness of what's happening right now. Literally, I get lost in the game. The work or the business of basketball creeps in from time to time because there's so much that goes on in terms of putting the team together and ups and downs of an 82 game schedule or the pressures of performing every single night. But honestly, when I step foot on the floor, it's just pure joy. And that's where I live.

We'll be right back.

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All right, back to the show.

My two questions that I have to ask.

Is- One at a time, please.

No, I was waiting for the two-parter because I know how this goes.

It goes. Oh, yeah. Because I got to get them in. I got to get these in. Worst fight you've ever had on the court and worst injury.

Oh.

Great question.

Does anyone ever gotten a beat.

Down from you? No, I've gotten a beat down. I think it's on YouTube still. It was in Indiana, in 2013. Roy Hibbert, David West, and my teammate at the time, David Lee. Roy Hibbert and David Lee squared up and hit the basket. And it was like big man on big man crime. Guards and little guys stay out the way. That's a known thing in the League when the big guys are going at it. Everything else around doesn't matter. My dumb ass wanted to get in there and protect my teammates. So they square up, they chest bump, and I run up behind Roy Hibbert. He's seven foot, probably 290, 280 pounds. And I try to grab him from the back and pull him off my teammate. And when I tell you, it was like to swat and to fly off. He literally just took his left hand and just... And I went literally under the basket, I flew all the way to the corner, feet off, slid across the court. So now I'm embarrassed. I have to get up and act like I'm coming back for more. And that's when David West, who's like the big punisher, the enforcer on the court, he chest-stiff arms me and puts me in my place and just holds me one hand.

And there's all this commotion. And later the story is I would have gone for it. He just held me back. I was going to go.

For it. Exactly.

By the way, Roy Hibbert. Nice guy.

Very nice guy. Great guy. He's got a mean left.

Swim move. He's got a left swat, he calls it. He's got a.

Mean left swat. I never knew how strong Will was until we were doing our... And I had no idea you were- I'm.

Not taking my shirt off, dude.

Come on.

Yeah, show him. He's so assuming. I tried to push him with all of my body weight, and I couldn't push him an inch.

Yeah, it's annoying.

I will ask you this. Do you apply that same approach? And you talk about the balance and being present when you do other sports? When you play golf? Or do you have... Because some people, and I'm not going to name names, some people, when they stand over the ball, they stand there like a psycho. And they might be up to 30 seconds like a freaking psycho. Like you think, This guy, I'm glad he's over the ball because otherwise he's going to be out in 19 people or something.

My checklist is much shorter now.

It is. I heard you're.

Working on it, right? I heard that this.

Is the process. He is working on his process. You've heard about the process. Yeah, I've heard about the process. Would you say, but do you do that or do you just swing athleticall y and just do it?

The athletic tendencies take over. I am as maniacal about the game of golf as Jason is just in terms of I don't know, there's always something to work on or get better. I'm creative in that mindset where every little detail matters. And I have to really try to turn all those thoughts because they will get the best of you. Especially, I've been playing, I mean, selfishly, been playing the best golf in my life. And so it's like, how good can I really get?

Dude, this summer you were.

On fire. You're a scratch, aren't you?

I got to the other side of that. I'm like a plus two right now, which is-.

And how old are you?

Thirty-five. Thirty-five. Okay, so you have 15 years before the Champions tour if you want it. If you want it, so 15 more years of training, you could be unstoppable on the Champions tour if you want to do that at 50, right? You can make.

That decision then. That is a goal for sure. I know there's in the golf world, there's a lot of our celebrity and pro-am stuff, and so you can scratch the competitive itch here and there, especially when I get the nine months of my basketball season back when it's all said and done. But yeah, Champions tour, I'm sick. Basketball could be on. I might have that on my phone, but on TV, it's Golf channel. Yeah, you and me both. It's just a problem.

My wife thinks I'm such an idiot.

Well, the other.

Night- A lot of apologies.

Jason was over and I showed him my golf channel, which was This Old House on CBS. I still watch This Old House. Do you know that show? I do not. Oh, it's like a... It's from the 1970s. It's still on. They build homes. They build houses.

Yeah.

You know who likes it? People who are in comas. They play just to have so that they know.

That there's- Or people that just.

Can't- They'll roll a TV into a room if somebody's in a coma.

And they can't find the remote control. Those are.

The folks that love it. If the remote is broken, it's all gone.

They're strapped to a chair and it's stuck on PVS.

Yeah, it's the best show of this old house.

I sent Jason a video this morning. Jason's game has gotten so good, and mine is I don't... I haven't been playing as much, but his game is- I'm not a plus. You're not a plus, but your game is good. I sent him this video today of this dude who played 18 holes with a five iron.

This morning. Yeah, and all he wanted to do was break 80. And he shot, what did he shoot? 76?

Yeah, he shot 78. Yeah. With a 5-iron. Yeah, he plays on the DB tour, European guy.

That tells you how good those guys are.

He hit two green-side bunker shots, flop.

Shots.

With a 5-iron, dude. It was crazy. We'll send it.

To you. Talk to me about you and Clay Thompson, the Splash Brothers. How did you develop the chemistry with him? Would anyone has ever asked me about chemistry with an actor or something like that? I always say, well, it's not something you... It's just... That person's just nice. It's easy. If someone's not a prick, you can get along with them and you have chemistry immediately. Is that as simple as it is with you and Clay?

It is. Transfer what it is to our relationship for sure. We've been together on the court now for 12 years. Then you add Draymond Green to that for 11. So it's insane to think that two guys who had dads that played in the NBA as well. That's what.

I was going to say.

-and like you said, have a good perspective about what we worked for to get here and approach life very similarly with appreciation and gratitude that we hit it off in the jump. I don't know. When you get into these type of friendships and from your standpoint with people in the same profession, comics, whatever, actors, that you sharpen each other's skill sets just by being around each other. Yeah, for sure. And that's how we've been this entire time. It's not something that we actually really talk about. It's like, we don't come in and sit down at dinner. What percentage are you trying to shoot this year? Is your elbow at 90 degrees or whatever? But it's more just then we're in that environment. Our work ethics are pretty top notch in terms of being able to try to figure out how to get better every single year. And that iron sharpens iron is real. And there's such a respect level for the way that he approaches basketball and life. And that's why we're.

Still doing it. And I'll bet the two of you with that harmony and kindness and quiet leadership and all that stuff, it's infectious in the team, correct? You guys, I bet, have created a culture over there that it should be no surprise that you guys have won that extra 10-15 games each year, whatever it takes to get to a place where you're in the finals. And once you're in the finals, that harmony in a team environment really yields the extra thing that you need to be excellent as opposed to great.

Yes? No, for sure. The coach are part of a lot of different ways to lead. There's a lot of different ways. You can be the loud one that needs to say something about everything. You can be the lead by example type. You can be the ones that show up when the lights are brightest and galvanize that confidence within the team. But following Steve Kerr, our coach and the legendary coaches that he played for, Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, played alongside Mike Jordan.

But Kerr has been famously a really, really nice guy.

Yeah. He's just a great manager of people, like an impersonable guy.

He seems to have a very similar disposition, obviously very different personality, but disposition to Greg Popovich, both of whom I don't know at all. But it just seems like they have a very similar vibe. Is that right?

They're straight shooters. They have a great sense of humor. They have a perspective that our problems in the NBA, and they're real, like we're trying to win the highest level. There's pressure. This is a multibillion dollar industry that is set up to test you in all different ways. And if you want to win at the highest level, it's going to demand a lot from you. But he has a great way of explaining like, we're blessed, man. We get to play basketball for a living. And he reminds us to that every single day when we come in. And that just levels the playing field. He's a level of trust within each other. And he does the best job of when you come into a team element, I don't care if it's sports, whatever facet of life, everybody has a specific role to play. And he makes sure that that's clear. But it doesn't diminish your value to the success of the group. And I think he has a great way of managing that process from day one to the end, making guys believe in that. That's why we've been able to sustain this level of success.

For as long as we have. But what do you guys do season to season? I've often wondered you come in, you win a few championships, and so you're the best. You guys are the best. You've got an unbelievable team. You've got great chemistry. What does a guy like Steve Kerce say when you come into camp, whatever that is, August, September, to get ready for the new season? Do guys like him go, Okay, well, we won last year. This year, our approach is going to be... Because obviously, the goal, if he sat there and goes, We want to win a championship. Yeah, no shit. Everybody wants to win the championship. Do they set different goals? They go, This is what we're going to do this year. Our approach is going to be different?

Yeah. I talk about what's happening right now. We've won four championships since 2015. We've been in six finals, so we've lost two of them. We lost in the second round last year to the Lakers on a down year for us, which is the high standard we've set. Came into this year, and to your point, obviously, everybody knows if we don't win a championship, then it's a failed for us because of the standard. Cool. You can't just come in and say that. There has to be a level of detail of how you approach the year. For us, it's we have to win the week. That's what we call it. So however many games there are that week, it gives you a singular focus on what do you need to do to win the week. We need to have a winning record every week. And that's how you get the little bite size motivation for a nine-month journey that there are so many emotional roller coaster rides throughout the year. I think everybody you want those little bit of celebratory moments, right? You know you're going to hit some down, some tough parts of the season, some tough stretches.

But you go two and one in a three game week, and everybody's like, yeah, we did that. For a team that's won four championships, that might sound weird, but it's real because it keeps you in the fight. That was the way he came in for this year.

For somebody who doesn't watch sports, basketball, nothing, but they're constantly striving to be the best that they can be and be excellent as much as they can. They might struggle sometimes with the moment when it's time to go to hit the shot, land the plane. What would you tell, without getting too woo woo, but is there something that you can say to the listener for them to maybe focus on that might get them centered and focused so that they've got their best chance at being the best part of themselves? Do you focus on anything that's evergreen?

Don't fuck up. I think that one is always good.

I love that. It's a great bumper stick.

We need to write that book.

Nike was going to do that one originally. Before just do it, it was taking. It was going to be don't fuck up.

It's interesting because I guess, like you said, you don't want to sound too cliché with it, but it's literally like confidence is built off your preparation. And that's first and foremost. And if you can't look yourself in the mirror and say you did everything that you knew and within your control to put yourself in position to be prepared for whatever that moment is, then you're already behind the eight ball. But then at that point, for me, the biggest hurdle that I had to overcome was the legit fear of failure. It was legit, sometimes wanting to hide from the backlash or the criticism, or the negative energy that you get if you don't accomplish whatever you set it out to do. And once you go through that and put yourself out there, you realize it's not all that bad.

Because because.

That's what life is.

About, right? I'm going to do woo woo for just one second, because to that point, I always say the greatest safety net in anybody's life is the fact that you're loved, right? Yeah. So if you know you are loved and you feel you're loved by your husband, your wife, your kids, your family, your friends, your teachers, your whoever, your coach, you are loved. So if you are loved, you can fail a million times and still have that love to fall back on. They'll always be there to catch you.

That's the challenge, too, there probably is. Make sure you have that certainty.

I think all the orphans just got their feelings hurt. Let it go. Fucking dick. You never think about the orphans. Hey, man.

You're.

A fucking kid.

Exclusionary motherfucker.

I.

Still have late.

All.

Right. No. What? I know. I think focusing on all jokes aside, man, I have, and I can say what... Especially in the profession that we're in, Jason started younger, but he also knows what it's like. I failed so much that I can't... All I did was fail for years. I didn't make-.

Listen here, we're all nodding. We're all nodding.

Yeah, I know. We all are nodding because it's true. I continued to do it, and I failed from the time I moved to New York, I was 20, I didn't make it. I was so broke, and I just didn't... I failed all the freaking time. And then there's that turning point. I was talking to my buddy Eli about it. That turning point where whatever, it's just plays. You start to get better at it. You start to get better at it. You start to get better. And then you also, I think you develop an armor. Your skin gets thicker and you start just going like, you don't think about the failures. For me, my own thing is like, I got to think about the stuff that's working. Because I think as humans, we just naturally, we can have 95 % of our life is working great and some five % shit is bothering us. And we will think about that five percent- One thousand %. -and that's craziness, right? Yeah. And so I had to do... I had to do so much spiritual, calisthenics to get to the place where I'm like, just think about what's working and focus on that.

And I think that I got better at it, but fuck, it took a lot of feeling to get there.

And that comparison is the Thief of... It's a great thing, especially for us when you're looking around and you see people who are on different timelines within their journey. Who knows what they've been through, what they've exposed that has positioned them to that place or when you have those blinders on. So whatever the journey, the things that you learn through that failure, obviously, we all know are key as long as you can make them useful and make them resources for the next step and not deter you from whatever you're setting out to do. But that journey, when you look back to your place, I love that. The 95-5 % thing is a real, real... I'm putting that in perspective of everything that I've gone through because it's the shared goals that you have with those people around you, orphan's aside, that are extremely, I guess, the most memorable parts of life. I'm not walking and looking at trophies like my rings. It's nice to have them. Don't get me wrong. It's nice to pull them out. But those represent the nine months journey I was talking about with what Coach said. How many weeks did we win that year?

And just the little bite size things that make a difference in terms of your happiness and your peace of mind and the joy that you bring to it. So for us, that's a big part of dumbing down the pressure that you're in on a daily basis.

And Sean touched on it, the love from family. It's hard to miss if anybody's followed you through your career, how present your family is. Your parents, your kids, your wife, whatever, they seem to be omnipresent. That seems to be obviously a key to success. And how awesome is it that you can share this with your parents obviously seemingly a lot?

Oh, for sure. And even your family structures and things change, and you start to even as an adult, we get real deep with it. But my parents got divorced a couple of years ago, and it's like the way that life forces you to rethink and reimagine all your relationships and the growth that happens through that, it's a real blessing and through some tragedy and through trauma. And even when you're in those moments, you don't see it. But I think the maturity that comes through all those experiences you go through is the appreciation of who is pouring into your life on a daily basis, who's giving you a sense of confidence in who you are as a person and the value that you bring. And the more that you can put yourselves in those environments. And my family has been a huge support and stars all across the board in that respect. I'm now in a charge of passing on to my family and my kids. And that's the beauty of life right there.

It sounds like no pain, no gain. This is a phrase that I just thought of the other day that I've been using quite a bit. I'm going to write I'm.

Going to.

Write that down. I want to know the injury thing, your worst injury.

No pain, no gain. I've had four surgeries in my NBA career.

No way.

Yeah. I had two early in my career, I had two ankle reconstructions that were pretty nasty. And then it was four years ago, I broke my hand. A big seven-footer decided he wanted to take a charge while I was in the air instead of meet me at the rim and trying to block a shot. I fell over top of him, and he landed back on my hand. I have two beautiful scars on my left hand that I broke a hand, had a carpal tunnel syndrome, relief, surgery on it. From texting? The feeling just came back in from taxing.

Sean got carpal tunnel doing a musical.

We're in the same boat. Added to the resume.

82 games a year.

300 shows a year. Do your fans know that all the things that you go through to put yourself in.

A position? Icing those fingertips.

-to perform? He did, by the way. He did. Every night, he had to ice before and after because he had to play and do eight shows a week. It was.

Pretty crazy. Piano injuries.

Yeah, that's real. We all go through it. We all go through it.

We'll be right back.

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Steph, can you speak a little bit to the extent the League allows you to criticize this in-season tournament? Do you have any comments?

So this is not because I get paid by the NBA. I absolutely love it.

I'm hearing it's almost unanimous that you guys are all digging this. I'm still- What is it? -it's brand new.

It's like soccer. They do it in soccer. I love it.

That's the biggest thing, the difference obviously, we're playing the same teams. It's all 30 of us just mixed up in different groups than we normally are in our divisions. But what they did with the entertainment value, and we played last night.

Our first one- Explain it to Sean.

Sean, there's 30 teams in the NBA. We're all already separated into six divisions, five teams in each division. Yeah, sure. So that's been the way it's been for 30 years now. What they did this year was they took each of the 30 teams and put you in six different groups. Within the Western Conference, there's three groups and the Eastern Conference is three groups. They designated four regular-season games within those groups. We play these teams anyway, but they designated these specific groups to say, All right, this count towards the end-season tournament grouping. We played Oklahoma City last night and we won. We're 1-0 in our group. We'll play Oklahoma City again, but that game won't be designated as the end-season tournament game.

They're still playing the regular season and the game they played last night against Oklahoma, that still counts in the whole.

Regular season. It still counts to the standings and counts both.

But it also counts towards this.

In-season tournament.

Oh, that's crazy. Is it a way for them to keep the middle of the season exciting for.

The viewers? Yeah, it's for the viewers. And it just brings a fresh energy to our first 20 games, basically, up until Christmas when it's - How does the.

Tournament work in Vegas for the.

People who - So that's where it builds up to. So after you play those four games in your group, the team with the best record in each group, which would be six teams, and then there's two wildcard spots, one for the West, one for the East with the next best record or all the tie breakers they have. So you have eight teams that come out of the pool play, and then you'll play a bracket. So it's three games. And if you make it to the final four, then we go to Vegas and they play two games there.

Do those games count for the regular season as well?

So the final four game does. The championship game is essentially the 83rd game of the season, so that doesn't count towards the regular season. But if you play in that game and you win, the NBA, the financial incentive is 500,000 for each player. Wow. And for the.

Championship- So you have to have a degree in math as well.

Math and travel and planning.

Coordinated logistics.

That's unbelievable. When's the end of that tournament? The end of the tournament?

The first week of December is the championship week of the end-season tournament. So they'll have the quarter finals, semi-finals, and the championship game. I think it's like December ninth. Don't quote me on that. But it's the first week of December. And so basically, the cool part is they redesigned courts for this. Oh, yeah. That's pretty cool. So if you were just having to be scrolling TV, Sean, you used to watch the Boyz II State football game back in.

The day with the field. With that Blue Field? The Blue Field.

They did that with ours. So they circused out the courts to make it look and feel way different.

Was the Bucks, Nicks, last night? Was that in-.

Every game that was on, so I think every Tuesday and Friday are the in-season tournament games. You'll know. You'll be like, What the hell is going on on the court right here? So it'll stop you.

In the trip. I like to go into live basketball games. I think it's fun.

Okay, well, we got the quote.

Listener, you can reach Sean at 3:10.

That's a bubberous ticker. If you have an extra ticket, are you looking for a single or are you Scottie you want to go to? Or you like a box? What do you like? What fan experience do you want, Sean? Hey, let me ask you. I need to know this because I've often wondered this. Some of the guys who you've known and played with over the years, a lot of them, are extremely tall. And we're talking guys who are... They go through life as these incredible... They're not just 6'4, 6'5. They're like 6'9, 6'10, 7 feet. I imagine, do they have to just live like freaks? I mean, do they have to have longer beds? What do they do with their cars? What do they do with their clothes, with their houses? Do they have to have special... I've always wondered that.

Airplane seats?

Yeah. It's a process. Our road hotels, a lot of them complain about the feet hanging over the end. There's nothing you can really do about that. I know they probably can't just go to your standard malls and go shop off the racks. They got to have all the special tailoring and stuff. Seems like a headache of just having to go an extra step or two for stuff like that. They're not eligible to drive certain cars, especially if they're in the market for some high luxury type stuff where they actually got to think about leg room and all that.

Minivans, that's it, right? Straight up. You see, Shaq is the one who's had all his cars custom made for him where they put.

The seating there. Oh, really? I know Shaq a little bit over the years. He's such an awesome dude. He's a hilarious dude. One time I was with my kids, I was in Los Angeles, and this dude pulls up in this black car, and the passenger rolls out of the window and goes, Somebody wants to say hello. I was like, Oh, okay. I looked in and I had to keep looking back through the window and Shaq had moved. His seat was obviously customed up like it was in the back seat basically.

You see, when he had a thing he did at MTV.

What's up, Big Man?

He did a Cribs video where they went to his bedroom. He had like this, I think it was a Corvette, if I'm not mistaken, but it was like not a Cali King. It's probably like double the size of that. And he takes it to the extreme. But I know all these guys have to really take into consideration the normal-.

Speaking of tall players, we've got a brand new one this year. This rookie phenom, Victor Webanyama. Have you played.

With him yet? I've played a preseason game, I guess. He's 7'4, and he plays like me.

Yeah, right. Shoot.

He moves.

First of all, let's not say he plays like you yet. Let's give him a little bit of time.

That's got a pretty good jay on him.

He is. But I'm talking about consistency over time is the marker here.

I do like these dribbling drills where he used two basketballs, and it's usually like a guard thing. We have the skill set and the hand-out coordination. Can he do that? There's a video of him. You can look it up. Victor Wimbayamba, two-ball dribbling. When I saw it, it's just so smooth and fluid. What am I actually looking at.

Right now? Kevin Durant would be the closest comparison to him as far as agility and size, and shooting.

Yeah? Yeah. But then you see a side-by-side picture of what 7-4 versus 6-10, 6-11 looks like, and you're like, Oh, that's a different ball game.

Are they playing him? I've only seen one game, I think. Do they play him at center or do they play him at forward? Because his size, I mean, he's so skinny. Wouldn't he get beat up as a center? Would you play him at forward?

Greg, probably I'm not going to step in on his expertise, but I would say he's a match or problem no matter what position you play him at. But they also put some beef around him and play him at the two, three, the extended guard in small forward position just to make it even more difficult to figure them out.

I saw him playing.

Against Durant. He can.

Go wherever he wants. I saw him playing against Durant the other night, and I watched the highlights, and it was fucking sick. Just watching all the different shots that he hit, all the different things, the block shots, the moves that he had. It was like, it was like, you're like, like you said, what.

Am I watching? I've never seen anything like that before. I like the Kevin Durant reference because he's the most pure score at that height where he can literally do everything with the ball.

But this guy is different. Are there any other players in the League right now that strike you as unique right now? Are you sensing any new styles of playing that are coming into the League at all that are exciting to you?

The interesting thing is they all said I ruin the game. By that, obviously everybody wants to shoot threes and see how far deep they can shoot.

You routinely put it in. I mean, Sean, this guy shoots from... There's a three-point line, which they give you an extra point because beyond this line, it's too far away. So that's why they give you an extra point. He shoots from the four-point line, basically.

I'm telling you, I play basketball. Sean, they're playing in an arena.

They're playing in an arena.

Sean, it's a ball going in.

The hoop. Where? Where?

Where? Is it like, they're outside? Is it near.

My house? There's organs playing at most arenas, too.

You love the area. Yeah, and tank tops are all playing in tanks.

Organ. What are you? One day you look up there, I'm just.

Like, up there playing- Sean, if you end up as an arena.

Organist, what do you mean end up? Wait, I want to know something.

No, no, no. A style of play that you see coming into the league.

At all? It's just like positionless basketball where everybody can do everything. It's cool because that's the influence of them seeing my style and the warrior style over the course of the last decade, where you have guys who were... I get into the locker room now and I have a locker mate who sits to the right of me, Brandon Pajemsky, who's just turned 21 or about to turn 21. And so he was in... When we won our first championship in 2015, he was in the sixth grade.

Oh, boy.

And so you see the influence of, all right, he's watching this. And now, okay, I'm going to work on this. I'm going to try to add that to my game now. So you just see that infused into the entire League where there's just so many guys that are pretty versatile to do pretty much everything. And you asked a question about what position does Victor Wendellyama play? Everybody plays every position now. It's cool to see the mix and the matching and the rotations there because there's no stiffs that just are out there just to set screens and do nothing else. You got to be able to be pretty skilled at everything. Yeah.

Sean, ask him what his pre-game rituals are.

Well, I want to know that. Actually, I do want to.

Know that. And his favorite city to play in.

I do want to know that.

These are Sean's specials.

And then I also want to know a deeper question, which is with all of your success and how phenomenal you are and the talent that you have been given. And you're very young still. You're 35, you said?

Mm-hmm.

You're so young, you could probably do this for many, many more years. But do you ever think about when you're by yourself and think about, Gosh, with all of my injuries and all this stuff. I want to set a clock myself before my body tells me the clock? I want to think about this on my terms like, do I have five years left? Do I have twelve years left? What is the span of somebody like you in the field that you're in?

And you can hear that in Visaline, right, Steph?

Can you really hear it?

Can you really hear it? Bless his heart.

He's trying so hard- Making use of the time. I think that's a great question then, because I started to think about that, obviously, a little bit more as of late because there's less years in front of you than there were behind you. And going out on your own terms is the goal for us. My prime is, I don't know how long I can extend it, because I really feel like I'm playing the best basketball of my life now at 35. We mix in the experience and reps and wisdom and the know-how, even balance and on-court, off-court stuff. But then to your question, I'm not going to do it forever. So I talked to Tom braided about it, name drop. And I feel like he was just saying, you can think about that and you can prepare for what the downturn looks like, but you take it in two year windows. So it's like, all right, what am I doing now that's going to prepare me for even just getting through next season? And then you just wash, rinse, repeat that until you wake up one day and you realize, one, I talked about earlier, the joy of the game and making sure that's always there and being able to meet the moment of the competitive energy that you need to have.

But then also, am I really spending eight hours every off day just to get ready for the next day? There's got to be a certain amount.

I love that Tom braided has established the, no, just kidding. You can always say, Yeah, no, I want to play football.

What's the sleep regime? How important is it?

It's huge. There's always that joke. Once you're getting to later in your Prime, I have so many different apps and devices to help me get.

To sleep. Yeah, noise machines.

Yeah, all the noise machines, blackout goggles, the whole deal. It's huge because that sleep debt is real. It's the only way to really rejuvenate and recover and allow your body.

Do you miss home when you're on the road that much?

I miss it all the time, but it's where I get the best sleep. I'll admit it to you all. I know this is going out to the world, but when I see the family, I really miss you guys, but I do look forward to road trips.

Because you get better sleep.

Because you get better sleep. I know.

All day long.

I do the same thing. I'm in Atlanta right now for a couple of weeks, and I feel guilty because Alessandra, my partner, she's like, our three-year-old, I woke up four times a week. I'm like, do I tell her I had nine hours straight of sleep? Because she'll be so mad.

She'll.

Be so happy.

For you.

That's amazing. Steph, I want to let you go because we're already at an hour. We don't like to keep guests too long. But I want to give you a chance to talk about this incredible philanthropy that you have going as well as your company, Unanimous Media. I mean, any part of that you want to highlight? There's so much there between underrated golf and eat, learn, play. I don't know how you have time to be so philanthropic and generous and diversified with your production company, too.

Yeah, I appreciate that. It's awesome to know the doors that basketball is open and the lanes that I never thought I'd be able to play in and build and grow and make impact. And so when you talk about our foundation, me and my wife Aesha started a foundation that it's called Eat, Learn, Play. And we are the village for the next generation of young kids, especially in the Oakland community that need the necessary and vital resources to achieve and unlock their full potential. And so we've been doing that for a little over four years and have-.

$47 million you've channeled that way.

It's been a huge community that's come to support. Our goal, we cover all operational expenses for the foundation so that every dollar that comes in is 100 % going directly back into the community. Now working with the Oakland Unified School district to hopefully infuse 50 plus million dollars over the next four years into the school system. That's where kids go to eat, learn, and play every single day. We're trying to meet them where they are. We're super excited about that. Even when you come to Inspire to the next generation, you talk about Unanimous Media, which for us is an unbelievable avenue and venture to continue to elevate storytelling in the way that I can with in the themes of faith, family, and sports. And I've been on that journey for the last four years and have been a part of some amazing projects. And truly feel like with all of the ventures that I have, we talked about underrated golf. I feel like I could talk about that for hours. But we're just being able to leverage all the platform that I have that basketball has blessed me with to have something for the next chapter of life when the ball starts to bounce.

That's great.

I love that. Giving so much access and opportunity to folks that wouldn't.

Necessarily have it. Please run for president. You're rich enough. No, I'm kidding. I'm not even kidding. I was thinking the.

Same thing.

You're the person that we need, man. I swear to God. At a.

Minimum, see what you can do for the Oakland A's and keep them in town.

That's the word We're trying to keep some inspiration in the Bay for sure. But I appreciate that. And just the fact that basketball is my life has been a part of the ability to leverage all the things we just talked about. But I don't know hopefully a couple more championships and then what comes next I'll be prepared for.

Then the Champions tour.

I'll tell you what, I'm rooting for the Warriors from this point on. I am. Come on with it. It's so awesome to talk to you. You're such a cool dude. And to think that you brought so many people so much joy over the years and entertained them. And then to then take that and continue, you gave a lot of your time, and you obviously were the beneficiary of a lot of things. But to be able to take it and do what you're doing now, man, it's super impressive. Really, really cool.

Yeah, it's.

Really cool. It makes me go like, What the fuck is Sean done?

Zero.

He's done a.

Fucking zero. He's ignoring your orphans.

No, he's just eating fucking white bread.

White bread.

White bread, motherfucker.

Jesus. Well, cheers to you. Really well done. Keep it going. You got plenty left to give, and we can't wait to see it. And I can't wait to see your golf swing in person next time.

You're down here. I got to see the process in person too.

I'll tighten it up.

You've got to come down to L. A. And come down and play with us, man.

Absolutely. Nice to meet.

You, pal. Well, thank you so much for doing this. I know we were trying for a while. Thanks for making the time.

Absolutely. I appreciate you guys. Obviously, big fans listen to it all the time, so keep doing what you're doing.

Okay, I can do. Thank you, man. Good luck. Rest of the season.

Appreciate you.

All right, Steph. Take care. Bye, buddy.

He's amazing. I tried real hard to understand the divisions and then the subdivisions.

You know what, Sean? I thought I actually thought I am going to show you when I come home. I'll draw it out for you. I swear to God. And then you go, Oh.

I actually would be really interested in that.

It is very interesting. He is super interesting and cool. Right? Yeah, he's so cool. And just oh, my God, Jay. What a guy. He is just... Oh, my God.

Jay, what a guy. That's a solid fella. Yeah, have you been trying.

To get him for a while? Yeah, his schedule, you can imagine, is hard to... When it works for him, we're flexible.

But they've got a tough schedule. I mean, he was traveling and.

Just like, Shut up. Yeah, he's in the room. Did he say he's playing tonight? No, it's seven o'clock over there. Last night, last night. Last night. He must have played a day game there or something. Anyway. Last night. I forgot that he was... That there's a Toronto.

History there with him. His dad ended up there, yeah, and he went to school in Tobacco.

But it's no wonder he is attached to so many things. He seems he's got the personality. Not every sports figure, not every actor, not everybody on the planet has the personality to do what.

He can do. He seems very kind, very genuine, very nice. But I'll bet you a thousand dollars that Ayesha, his wife, is a saint even larger than him. And I'll bet she's driving a lot of a lot of this stuff, and she probably deserves.

A huge applause. I'm sure. But of course, and as you know, doing stuff, doing what he does at the highest level requires a lot of energy. And I'm sure he got a lot of people pulling at him at different directions because he's got to deliver on the court, which is the first thing, right? That's how he got to where he is. And then there's all this other stuff that's part of that. There's the celebrity, and there's the foundation, and there's the this, and there's that, and blah, blah, blah.

And it's a production company. It's a thing, a thing, a thing.

Production. Each one of those things requires so much energy and time and attention. And to think how, like you said, JB, about when he plays, how effortlessly he seems to do it. And maybe that betrays like he... Maybe he is... He does have a tougher time managing, but it seems like so balanced, as he said. Yeah, he seems.

Very calm.

It's so impressive. It's so unbelievably impressive all the stuff that he does at the.

Highest level. Yeah, but that whole thing, like that was his whole journey, that's a story I was blown awayby...

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