Stephen Curry and LeBron James may be on-court rivals these days, but back in 2008, the two were simply fans of each other.
In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, Curry, 35, reflects on one of his earliest memories of his fellow NBA great — when James, now 38, watched him compete during the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
“I remember the emotions of that game specifically because it was the Sweet 16, we’re at Ford Field in Detroit, we’d just come off the emotional high of winning the first two games in Raleigh,” Curry recalls of Davidson College’s legendary tournament run. “And you hear LeBron might come to the game, I guess in the middle of the NBA season or toward the end of the NBA season, and I’m sure he was busy in the whole deal.”
“And we had met at his camp the year before, but when he shows up, if you press pause right there and then showed us the future in that moment, we’d both laugh if somebody said, ‘This is what’s going to happen over the next 15 years, in terms of the battles that we’d have in the league and all that type of stuff.’ I’d laugh at you for sure.”
The early LeBron-Steph encounter — albeit not on the hardwood yet, as James was playing professionally with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time — is shown during Curry’s new documentary Stephen Curry: Underrated, which is now available to stream on Apple TV+.
“But it is cool to know, one, that’s just the purity about enjoying what you do, him being a fan in that moment, and the respect of showing me love when I was in college and whatnot, to the growth of rivalry and the finals, back-and-forth and all that type of stuff,” Curry says.
In the years to follow, James and Curry would end up meeting in the NBA Finals four consecutive times between 2015 and 2018.
“So pretty special to think about it. And also to understand how quickly this all goes by, knowing he’s in year 20 now and I’m in year 15. It’s insane to think about all that’s happened since then.”
As Curry preps for another year in the league, he tells PEOPLE that aging in sports comes with it’s perks. “With time comes experience, and there’s a comfortability that comes with knowing how you operate in a lot of different situations,” he says. “I’ve taken a lot of lumps over the course of the years, a lot of losses, defeats, poor performances, and I’ve had a lot of highs, but it’s just accentuated the confidence that I have in myself to extend this level of play and this experience as long as I can.”
Back in 2022, Curry opened up about advice that the now-retired Tom Brady gave him about longevity in professional sports, emphasizing the importance of taking things one year at a time as you get older. And as he now tells PEOPLE, that advice has stuck with him.
“He’s like, ‘Eventually you’ll be in position where you control how things might end at the end of your career.’ And there’s some luck that goes into it; injuries and unforeseen things can happen. But staying in the moment is the biggest thing, and enjoying what you do,” Curry says.
“That’s been a huge part of how I approach everything in life, but especially on the court, because that’s my happy place, that’s where I get to share my creativity and passion for the game, and I truly love what I get to do. If that changes, then that might be a sign that it’s time to do something different. But I’m not anywhere close to that.”
