Stephen Curry loves golf.
Just the last few months of his life have been evidence of that. The three-time NBA champion and Golden State Warriors star is fresh off an appearance at the Web.com Tour, where he pledged $25,000 to a pro golfer's wife's cancer battle. He made his annual trip to the celebrity golf tournament before that. And he even managed to play some quality holes during the Warriors' sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals.
Golf, however, is what might have prompted teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves to pass on him back in the 2009 draft.
Curry went seventh overall in that draft, behind back-to-back point-guard picks by the Wolves -- Ricky Rubio at No. 5 and Jonny Flynn at No. 6. And now, years later, the three-point specialist has revealed a story he once heard about why then-Minnesota executive David Kahn opted to steer clear of Curry despite two opportunities to take him.
"I don't know if that ever came out -- that's a story," Curry said on The Bill Simmons Podcast this week. "Everybody knows how much I love golf -- play it in my spare time and whatnot ... I think the word on the street was that he [Kahn] didn't draft me because, in Minnesota, it's cold and I wouldn't be able to play as much golf, so I would have been miserable."
Asked by Simmons whether that's a true story, Curry laughed, according to NBC Sports BayArea's Drew Shiller, and said he wasn't sure, instead joking that he hopes it's true only because it's so ridiculous.
"I hope it's true, because that's hilarious," Curry said. "That's hilarious."
The Warriors aren't laughing, of course, because they did take Curry at No. 7 in that draft, and what they got wasn't just a basketball player who spends time on the greens. What they got was the consensus top shooter in the NBA -- outside of maybe Curry's own teammate in Kevin Durant. Oh, and three titles to go with it.