Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry

by Marcus Thompson

Overview

The #1 national bestseller and inside story of Steph Curry, the greatest shooter basketball has ever seen.

Golden is the first book to provide an all-access look at Steph Curry and the team that has fueled Dub Nation—by longtime Warriors beat reporter and Bay Area News Group sports columnist Marcus Thompson, the go-to expert on all things Golden State.

A lifelong Warriors fan turned insider Thompson is uniquely qualified to tell the definitive story of a singular talent, pulling back the curtain on the crazy work ethic and on-court intensity that make Curry great—and the emphasis on family and faith that keeps him grounded.

Combining the competitive grit and fun-loving spirit of his mother with the mild demeanor, easy charm, and sharp shooting of his father, former NBA player Dell Curry, Steph Curry derives support and strength from his close-knit kin and his commitment to Christianity. This hard-working, wholesome image however is both a blessing and curse in a League of big personalities. Thompson unravels the complicated underpinnings of the Steph Curry hate with a nuanced analysis of how class and complexion come into play when a child with an NBA pedigree becomes the face of a sport traditionally honed on inner-city black top and dominated by the less privileged.

With unprecedented access, Thompson draws from exclusive interviews with Steph Curry, his family, his teammates, Coach Steve Kerr, and the Warriors owners to bring readers inside the locker room and courtside with this remarkable athlete and man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501147845
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	97,014
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Marcus Thompson II is a lead columnist at The Athletic, covering the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers and Giants, and the Oakland Raiders and A’s. He was previously a sportswriter at the San Jose Mercury News and covered the Warriors exclusively as a beat writer for ten seasons. He lives with his wife, Dawn, and daughter, Sharon, in Oakland, California. He is the author of the national bestseller Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry and KD: Kevin Durant’s Relentless Pursuit to Be the Greatest.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Baby Faced Assassin 1

Chapter 2 Game Changer 29

Chapter 3 Wardell II 57

Chapter 4 St3ph 85

Chapter 5 Curry Appeal 109

Chapter 6 Splash Brothers 133

Chapter 7 The Next Grant Hill 151

Chapter 8 Curry Hate 173

Chapter 9 Exceptionally Unathletic 201

Chapter 10 Underdog 219

Epilogue 243

Index 254

Editorial Reviews

02/27/2017
Thompson, a columnist for the Mercury News and East Bay Times, frequently gets up-close looks at Curry, the cherubic scoring savant for the Golden State Warriors, who is just entering the prime of his basketball career at age 28. Examining a still-active sports figure is difficult; Thompson mostly manages it by detailing Curry’s relentless drive. Curry went from getting zero scholarship offers from major colleges to being an NBA lottery pick. After two NBA MVP awards, Curry still endures punishing off-season workouts and keeps giving his trainer more to work on. Unfortunately, Thompson never finds the balance between tone and content, stumbling into game recaps and observations on his subject that can be overwrought (“ are tools for revenge, to announce his superiority”), simplistic (“He makes the kind of shots people daydream about”), or dossier-dull statistical. He fails to unite the disparate themes to profile a new kind of athletic superstar, a devout, humble family man who turned craftiness and outside shooting into sexy, marketable qualities. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"The Warriors are known for tormenting opposing defenses, but let me tell you about someone who's GREAT at covering Stephen Curry: Marcus Thompson. MT2 knows all the stories. He's been courtside for every dribble of Curry's pro career and brings a level of insight and perspective on the Steph Phenomenon ‎that's second to none."—ESPN NBA reporter Marc Stein

"If you are going to listen to what any media person has to say about the Warriors, especially regarding the rise of Steph Curry to superstar status, start with Marcus Thompson. Since I was drafted by the Warriors, no writer has been more plugged in to this journey."- Draymond Green

Marcus Thompson flat out gets basketball and how to write beautifully about it. With Golden, he tells Steph Curry’s story with insights you won’t find anywhere else. He takes you behind the scenes of massive playoff games and deep into the formative moments of Curry’s past. Steph has been the focus of so much media attention that one might assume there’s nothing new to know. They would be quite wrong, as Marcus has unearthed a rich trove that cameras either missed or were never privy to. If you love the NBA, you’ll love this book. —ESPN writer Ethan Sherwood Strauss

From the Publisher

03/15/2017
Sportswriter Thompson (Mercury News) recounts the ascent of basketball superstar Stephen "Steph" Curry (b. 1988), who has eclipsed many of his older peers by winning back-to-back NBA MVP awards as well as a championship with the Golden State Warriors. The son of former NBA player Dell Curry, Steph came to national attention by leading Davidson College to two NCAA tournaments. As the point guard entered the NBA, a lack of playing time and ankle injuries hindered his development and reinforced critics, who dismissed him as too undersized to compete against stronger point guards. These criticisms and struggles only motivated Curry, whose mastery of the three-pointer has allowed him to shoot over the top of defensive players from as far away as half court. Thompson credits Curry's popularity to his everyman quality, attributing the animosity he receives to his wholesome image. The author provides insight into Curry's Christian faith and his personal relationships, primarily with his wife, Ayesha. VERDICT Despite Curry's popularity, this biography will quickly become out of date. Recommended for libraries where Curry and the Golden State Warriors have large fan bases.—Chris Wilkes, Tazewell Cty. P.L., VA

Library Journal

2017-02-21
A hagiographic look at an NBA star with a lot of career ahead of him.Steph Curry is a bona fide superstar. The point guard for the Golden State Warriors has won two MVP awards and has led his team to consecutive NBA Finals appearances, winning in 2015 and losing in a heartbreaking seven-game series to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. He is also largely responsible for the resurrection of the Warriors, who languished near the bottom of the league for years. "Worse than being bad, worse than being onto something and blowing it on the biggest stage, the Warriors were irrelevant," writes Bay Area News Group sports columnist Thompson. Now, the Warriors are once again at the top of the Western Conference this season, and there is a case to be made that Curry is the greatest three-point shooter in league history. Furthermore, he is charismatic and compelling, with a beautiful family and a great back story: the son of a former NBA star who attended a midmajor school, Davidson, far more well known for academics than for athletics. By all accounts, he is a genuinely good guy. So this book, about one of the NBA's biggest and most marketable stars, is not surprising. However, this treatment of an athlete with many years to go before retirement feels opportunistic. To be sure, the author is a fine journalist with sound insight into the NBA and especially Curry and the Warriors, a team he has covered for many years, but the book is so laden with praise that at times it reads like an extended press release. Fans of the Warriors and especially of Curry will enjoy the book, which has its virtues in terms of depth and insight, but the rest can wait until Curry's career is over for a more fully fleshed and less-adulatory biography.

Kirkus Reviews