It started like any other pickup basketball game at an open gym: Players were sweating on the court, others were waiting on the sidelines, spectators were watching lazily. Jessica Brogan, who attended a similar practice-like session with her two basketball-hungry sons, said it started out as a “normal open run.”
But there was a strange air of excitement at the Life Time Gym in Folsom, California, on this Saturday. Rumors were circulating around Sacramento that a global basketball star was in town and might stop by. Still, there was reason to be skeptical.
“I didn't even tell my kids about it because you hear that all the time and it doesn't work,” Brogan said.
Others, like Berry Roseborough IV, a local basketball trainer who works with college and professional players, were more convinced. Roseborough got a call from Marcus Kirkland, who was organizing the sessions, asking him to gather his best players since this special guest was expected to attend.
On the morning of June 8, Roseborough called the town's students, telling them only the bare minimum without revealing too much.
“I'll be mad if you miss it,” Berry reportedly told Damarion Van Kelley.
Van Kelly had a hunch, and it was reinforced by the walk-in of Kent Bazemore, a G League player who played 10 seasons in the NBA. About 10 minutes after Bazemore arrived, the yelling began as the game began. It's curry. It's curry.
“All the little kids were screaming,” Van Kelley said. “Even the adults were screaming.”
Sure enough, Stephen Curry came in wearing a light gray hoodie over his head.
“I looked up during the game and it was like, for lack of a better word, 'Oh my God, Steph walked through the door,'” Roseborough said. “And you felt it. … You felt the energy radiating throughout the gym. Everybody was in a state of near shock.”
Brogan looked at his sons' faces and said 13-year-old Braxton blushed when he recognized the four-time NBA champion, while 10-year-old Easton's eyes widened and he broke into a beaming smile when he realized it was Curry stretching nearby.
It's not uncommon for NBA players to participate in amateur pickup games to stay in shape, especially during the league's offseason. Players with college and professional experience, including Bazemore, regularly participate in runs Kirkland organizes in the Sacramento area. Kirkland said the two met at the gym in 2022 and stayed in touch, bonding over a shared love of basketball and a desire to share that love with others in the area.
Kirkland said Bazemore encouraged Curry, who was visiting the area for his daughter's youth volleyball tournament, to stop by the gym. Curry, whose NBA season ended in April with the Warriors' play-in tournament loss to the Sacramento Kings, will make his Olympic debut next month in Paris as the U.S. men seek their fifth gold medal.
“We've had a lot of NBA players come run with us, but we've never seen someone of Stephen Curry's caliber,” Roseborough said. “I was like, 'Wow.'”
Brogan said it was a “once in a lifetime experience” for his family.
In the roughly two-hour session, Curry put on a masterclass — he and Bazemore teamed up to play five-on-five against Kirkland, Van Kelly and Roseborough — and Brogan and her sons watched in awe, along with a crowd that grew so large security had to order people out, she said.
Not surprisingly, Curry lived up to the expectations, and Roseborough said he noticed Curry's speed and the simplicity of the game.
“He didn't do anything more than what was needed in the moment,” Roseborough said. “His pick-ups, the way he picked up the ball before he took the shot, were so fast you could barely see them.”
“Then his release. He takes the shot in 0.3 seconds or less. Contested or uncontested. It looks the same every time. It comes off the same finger every time.”
Added Van Kelly, 17, a 6-foot-5 guard who just graduated from Monterey Trail High School and has Division I and pro aspirations: “He was hitting it all. He was just hitting the net. When you see the way (Curry) attacks, you can see why he's at the pro level. All of his moves are perfect. He's patient and has great technique overall.”
During one game, Curry dribbled past Kirkland and attempted a step-back three-point shot that hit the rim and missed. Curry then passed the ball back and made a game-winning three-point shot on his next attempt. He instinctively celebrated with his iconic “goodnight” gesture. A video of the moment was posted to Brogan's Instagram and went viral.
Stephen Curry hits the night-nighter on an open run in Sacramento 😴😂🔥
(via jessicabrogan/ig) pic.twitter.com/kIPOodso1P
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) June 9, 2024
“He's a generational player, his IQ,” Kirkland said. “He's just different.”
Marcus Kirkland guards NBA star Stephen Curry during a pickup game in Folsom, California on June 8. (Courtesy of Marcus Kirkland)
But it wasn't just Curry's viral shots and ball-handling prowess that had the gym buzzing. Those who were there said he impressed in another way, too. They noted how Curry introduced himself to each player and shook their hand. He asked them their names and told them not to be nervous.
“Guys were trying to give him the ball to score, and he was like, 'No, we play team basketball. We don't play like that,'” Roseborough said. “He was actually helping other guys score. He was building confidence in those guys and in other people that were there.”
After the eighth or ninth game, which Kirkland said was dominated mainly by Curry and Bazemore, the two posed for photos with other players and children Kirkland invited to watch, including Brogan's sons.
“He made everybody around the building feel good,” Roseborough said, “He made everybody in the building feel good. I couldn't believe that his energy really affected everyone in the building that much.”
(Top photo of Stephen Curry, Kent Bazemore and other players provided by Marcus Kirkland)