{"id":697532,"date":"2026-04-04T10:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/697532\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T10:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:02:07","slug":"warriors-steph-curry-sends-strong-message-to-victor-wembanyama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/697532\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors’ Steph Curry Sends Strong Message to Victor Wembanyama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Victor\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors greet each other prior to the game.<\/p>\n

The Golden State Warriors<\/a> lost to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> on Wednesday night, falling 127-113 at Chase Center without Stephen Curry<\/a> in the lineup. Victor Wembanyama<\/a> finished with 41 points and 18 rebounds, his second straight 40-point, 15-rebound performance<\/a>. No Spur had ever done that before. Not Tim Duncan<\/a>. Not David Robinson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the game, the conversation extended beyond the final score. Curry sat down with The Athletic\u2019s Jared Weiss and spoke candidly about what he sees in Wembanyama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He knows this territory better than almost anyone alive.<\/p>\n

Curry on What Makes Wembanyama Different\"Victor<\/p>\n

GettyVictor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

Curry revolutionized basketball. The three-point era, the way defenses are constructed, the value placed on shooting and spacing. Much of it traces back to what he built in Golden State over the past fifteen years. Speaking with The Athletic<\/a>, Curry drew a direct line between his own ascension and what he sees developing in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a natural progression that you can\u2019t really force until your talent becomes so undeniable in your style,\u201d Curry said<\/a>. \u201cAnd if it leads to winning, it becomes like a collective effort, unlocking it, unleashing it, and then you being able to uplift players around you. So it\u2019s a two-way street.\u201d<\/p>\n

The observation carries weight coming from someone who lived it. Curry was not the consensus generational talent walking into the league. He was undersized, injury-prone early in his career, and misunderstood by those who could not yet see what he was becoming. The belief had to come from within before it could spread to everyone else.<\/p>\n

What he sees in Wembanyama is that same internal conviction, arriving faster and louder than his own did.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalent can only take you so far with God-given attributes,\u201d Curry said<\/a>. \u201cBut he seems more vocal than I was at the time, like at this stage. And obviously, he\u2019s the number one pick, so it\u2019s a different trajectory than what I took in a little earlier development, but the same kind of vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Curry Believes Will Define Wembanyama\u2019s Career<\/p>\n

The Spurs are 58-18 and pushing for the NBA\u2019s best record. Wembanyama declared in preseason that defense was non-negotiable and that a playoff run was the expectation. Both have come true. But Curry\u2019s message was less about what Wembanyama has already accomplished and more about what is still coming.<\/p>\n

Failure is coming too. How he responds will be the real test.<\/p>\n

Curry\u2019s path included ankle surgeries, early playoff exits, and seasons where the ceiling he eventually reached felt like a distant possibility. Those obstacles, he believes, are not detours from greatness. They are part of the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just how you deal with it. It\u2019s not always going to be a straight line,\u201d Curry said<\/a>. \u201cSo how you deal with failure and how you deal with playoff experience and all of that is going to define a lot. Because most people don\u2019t get it done on their first try.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spurs have little postseason experience as a group. Wembanyama has acknowledged that openly. But rather than treat it as a weakness, he has leaned into it. Curry knows that road personally. In 2013, his first playoff run, the Warriors fell to the Spurs in the second round. The following year they lost in the first round to the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>. Then Steve Kerr arrived, and Golden State won the first of four championships. The blueprint exists. It rarely happens on the first attempt.<\/p>\n

What It Means for Curry and the Warriors\"Stephen<\/p>\n

GettyStephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n

There is something worth noting in the fact that Curry spoke so generously about a player whose team just handed the Warriors another loss in a difficult stretch. Three straight defeats. A play-in spot locked in. A franchise at a crossroads heading into the offseason.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Wembanyama is out there posting historic back-to-back performances and chasing an MVP award with the conviction of someone who refuses to let the moment pass him by.<\/p>\n

Curry recognizes that energy because he once carried it himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got attributes that, obviously, you can\u2019t teach or truly understand because he\u2019s such a one of one,\u201d Curry said<\/a>. \u201cBut I think most of all, from what I see, his competitive spirit and his energy is contagious in there. It\u2019s not just his talent; it\u2019s the way he approaches it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the kind of praise that means something. Curry does not offer it carelessly.<\/p>\n

Final Word for the Warriors<\/p>\n

Curry knows what it looks like when a player is about to change everything. He was that player once.<\/p>\n

What he sees in Wembanyama is not just talent. It is the competitive fire, the vocal leadership, and the willingness to embrace the weight of expectation that separates good players from generational ones.<\/p>\n

The playoffs will test Wembanyama in ways the regular season cannot. Curry has been through all of it.<\/p>\n

He knows how the journey goes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKeith Watkins<\/a> Keith Watkins is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers. He previously wrote for FanSided, NBA Analysis Network, and Last Word On Sports. Keith is based in Bangkok, Thailand. More about Keith Watkins<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Warriors\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors greet each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,6,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-697532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","12":"tag-sanantonio","13":"tag-sanantoniospurs","14":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116345869254305582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}