Okay so last weekend my nephew comes running up showing off his new Warriors jersey, number 30 obviously for Steph Curry. Duh. But then he asks me, “Uncle, did Steph Curry always wear 30?” And honestly? I kinda froze. Like yeah, forever, right? I figured it was his number since forever. My nephew looked smug, which annoyed me. Had to find out.
I grabbed my laptop right there on the couch. Fired up the search bar. Easy first step: “steph curry jersey number”. Boom, a million pages confirmed it’s 30. Well of course it is. But I wasn’t finished yet. The kid’s question bugged me. Was it always 30? Started digging deeper.
Typed in “Steph Curry other numbers.” Got a few mentions of his dad, Dell Curry, who wore 30. Seems Steph took it to honor him. Sweet story. But I wanted proof of other numbers Steph himself wore. Kept scrolling. Hit a page talking about his high school days at Charlotte Christian School. Score! Turns out he actually wore number 20 back then. Why? Who knows. Pages didn’t say. Maybe just liked it? Found an old photo gallery – totally blurry pics, but you could kinda see the 20.
Next stop: college. Davidson Wildcats. Everyone knows that story. Searched “Steph Curry Davidson number.” Predictably, 30 again. Lots of iconic pictures with him in 30. So high school 20, college 30… so far. But wait, what about when he joined the NBA? Draft night trade, Golden State. Wore 30 from day one there? Seemed likely.
Kept digging to be thorough. Stumbled on this article about unused numbers or something. Buried deep in a forum post? Someone mentioned Curry briefly considered 7 when joining the Warriors because 30 was taken (by Anthony Morrow? Who even was that?!). But Morrow got traded fast, freeing up 30. Curry switched immediately. So technically, maybe 7 for a hot second during practice? Probably didn’t even suit up for a real game with it. Hard to find pics. Just team practice buzz, nothing official. Seems like 30 was locked down fast.
Went down a rabbit hole looking at Team USA stuff. Olympic Games, World Championships. Official USA Basketball videos… all showing him wearing 4. Made sense, national team usually uses different numbering systems. So international = 4, NBA = 30, high school = 20, college = 30 (for 3 years), and that phantom 7 for a blink-and-you-miss-it moment.
Put it all together for my nephew later: 20 (High School), 30 (College & NBA), 4 (USA Team), and almost 7 that one time. Kid was actually impressed I dug all that up. Just goes to show, even the stuff you think you know, sometimes you gotta check.
- High School (Charlotte Christian): #20
- College (Davidson): #30 (for 3 years)
- NBA Draft Day/Short Practice Period (Warriors): Briefly considered #7
- NBA Career (Warriors): #30
- USA Basketball: #4
Anyway. Spent way too long chasing jersey numbers online. The internet rabbit hole wins again. But hey, nephew thinks I’m cool for now. Mission accomplished, I guess.
