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Dell Curry
Curry-750xx777-437-0-3
Personal Information
Born June 25 1964 () (age 60)
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school Fort Defiance
(Fort Defiance, Virginia)
College Virgina tech 1982 / 1985
NBA Draft: 1986 / Round: 1/ Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Utah Jazz
Playing career 1986-2002
Position Shooting guard
Number 30
Career history
1986-1987 Utah Jazz
1987-1988 Cleveland Cavaliers
1988-1998 Charlotte Hornets
1999 Milwaukee Bucks
1999-2002 Toronto Raptors
Career highlights and awards
  • NBA Sixth Man of The Year (1994)
  • Consensus second-team All-American (1986)
  • Metro Conference Player of the Year (1986)
  • 3× First-team All-Metro Conference (1984–1986)
  • No. 30 retired by Virginia Tech
  • Virginia Sports Hall of Fame (2004)
Career NBA statistics
12,670 (11.7 ppg)
Rebounds 2,617 (2.4 rpg)
Assists 1,909 (1.8 apg)

Wardell Stephen "Dell" Curry (born June 25, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1986 until 2002 and retired as the Charlotte Hornets' all-time leader in points (9,839) and three-point field goals made (929). Curry currently works as a color commentator, alongside Eric Collins, on Charlotte Hornets television broadcasts.

Early years

Born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Curry was raised in Grottoes and played high school basketball at Fort Defiance, where he used his coach's barn to practice shooting daily. He finished as the all-time leading scorer in school history, and was named a McDonald's All-American in 1982. Curry also played baseball, and won state championships in both sports; he was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 1982 Major League Baseball draft.

College career

Curry was a four-year starter at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg along with contemporaries Bobby Beecher, Perry Young, Al Young, and Keith Colbert. The Hokies appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1983 and 1984, finishing third in the latter. Although the team qualified for at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 1985 and 1986, it lost in the first round on both occasions. In his senior season in 1986, Curry was named the player of the year in the Metro Conference. Prior to the 1986–87 season, NCAA basketball did not feature a three-point line; Curry's accurate long-range shooting was not rewarded, as it would be later in his NBA career. (In the early and mid 1980s, the three-point line was introduced in many conferences at varying distances, but it was not recognized by the NCAA.)

Curry also played baseball for Virginia Tech. He was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 14th round of the 1985 MLB draft but opted to continue playing basketball.

Curry finished his Virginia Tech career with 2,389 points (second all-time) and 295 steals (all-time leader) in basketball, and a 6–1 record with a 3.81 ERA in baseball.

He was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, his first year of eligibility.

NBA career

Curry was selected with the 15th overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 1986 NBA draft. He played one season in Utah before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1987, where he spent the 1987–88 season. He was left unprotected by Cleveland for the 1988 NBA expansion draft and was the second player selected, the first by the Charlotte Hornets. Curry spent 10 seasons in Charlotte, mostly coming off the bench to provide instant offense with three-point shooting. He was a regular in the discussions for Sixth Man of the Year and won the honor in the 1993–94 season. He was once the franchise's all-time statistical leader in points, games played, three-point field goals made and attempted, and three-point field goal percentage. When he left the team in 1998, he was the last player remaining from its inaugural season 10 years earlier.

Curry played one season for the Milwaukee Bucks before playing his final three seasons in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors. He holds career averages of 11.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. Curry retired as the all-time leading scorer in Hornets history with 9,839 points.

NBA career statistics

Legend
 GP Games played  GS Games started MPG Minutes per game
FG% Field goal percentage 3P% 3-point field goal percentage FT% Free throw percentage
RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game
BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per game Bold Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1986–87 Utah 67 0 9.5 .426 .283 .789 1.2 .9 .4 .1 4.9
1987–88 Cleveland 79 8 19.0 .458 .346 .782 2.1 1.9 1.2 .3 10.0
1988–89 Charlotte 48 0 16.9 .491 .345 .870 2.2 1.0 .9 .1 11.9
1989–90 Charlotte 67 13 27.8 .466 .354 .923 2.5 2.4 1.5 .4 16.0
1990–91 Charlotte 76 14 19.9 .471 .372 .842 2.6 2.2 1.0 .3 10.6
1991–92 Charlotte 77 0 26.2 .486 .404 .836 3.4 2.3 1.2 .3 15.7
1992–93 Charlotte 80 0 26.2 .452 .401 .866 3.6 2.3 1.1 .3 15.3
1993–94 Charlotte 82 0 26.5 .455 .402 .873 3.2 2.7 1.2 .3 16.3
1994–95 Charlotte 69 0 24.9 .441 .427 .856 3.4 1.6 .8 .3 13.6
1995–96 Charlotte 82 29 28.9 .453 .404 .854 3.2 2.1 1.3 .3 14.5
1996–97 Charlotte 68 20 30.6 .459 .426 .803 3.1 1.7 .9 .2 14.8
1997–98 Charlotte 52 1 18.7 .447 .421 .788 1.9 1.3 .6 .1 9.4
1998–99 Milwaukee 42 0 20.6 .485 .476 .824 2.0 1.1 .9 .1 10.1
1999–00 Toronto 67 9 16.3 .427 .393 .750 1.5 1.3 .5 .1 7.6
2000–01 Toronto 71 1 13.5 .424 .428 .843 1.2 1.1 .4 .1 6.0
2001–02 Toronto 56 4 15.8 .406 .344 .892 1.4 1.1 .4 .1 6.4
Career 1,083 99 21.7 .457 .402 .843 2.4 1.8 .9 .2 11.7

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1987 Utah 2 0 2.0 .000 .000 .0 .0 .0 .0 0.0
1988 Cleveland 2 0 8.5 .250 .000 .5 1.0 .0 .5 1.0
1993 Charlotte 9 0 24.7 .433 .286 .818 3.6 2.0 1.4 .0 11.0
1995 Charlotte 4 0 26.8 .471 .429 .909 2.3 1.5 .0 .0 12.8
1997 Charlotte 3 1 16.7 .294 .250 1.000 .3 1.7 1.3 .0 4.7
1998 Charlotte 9 0 19.0 .593 .250 .857 2.1 1.1 .8 .3 5.8
1999 Milwaukee 3 0 16.3 .404 .125 1.000 1.3 .3 1.0 .0 3.0
2000 Toronto 3 0 10.0 .133 .667 .500 .7 .3 .7 .0 2.3
2001 Toronto 12 0 15.2 .500 .378 .833 1.2 .8 .5 .1 6.5
2002 Toronto 4 0 14.8 .422 .800 1.000 1.3 1.0 1.3 .5 7.0
Career 51 1 17.5 .400 .350 .870 1.7 1.1 .8 .1 6.7

Post-playing career

In 2004, Curry was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

On June 18, 2007, Curry was named an assistant coach of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, but he stepped down before the season began so that he could attend his sons' basketball games.

In 2009, Curry started working as a commentator, alongside longtime play-by-play announcer Steve Martin, for the Charlotte Bobcats (now Charlotte Hornets).

In 2016, Curry was the recipient of the Bobby Jones Award at the Athletes in Action All Star Breakfast, which is held each year at the NBA All Star Weekend.

Personal life

On June 21, 1991, Curry and Charlotte Hornets teammate Muggsy Bogues appeared in a Minor League Baseball game for the Gastonia Rangers of the South Atlantic League. George Shinn, as owner of both teams, arranged the publicity stunt. Curry allowed only one run and struck out four batters in a three inning start.

In 1995, Dell and his wife, Sonya (née Adams), founded the Christian Montessori School of Lake Norman, a preschool in Huntersville, North Carolina.

In 1998, Curry established a charitable foundation, the Dell Curry Foundation, which is a youth oriented program in Charlotte, North Carolina. The foundation runs five learning centers in Charlotte to provide educational training and drug abuse counseling.

Curry married his college sweetheart Sonya in 1988. They have three children, Stephen, Seth, and Sydel. Stephen is the starting point guard for the Golden State Warriors, while Seth currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets, and his daughter Sydel played volleyball at Elon University. She was featured on Say Yes to the Dress in 2018.

On August 23, 2021, Curry and his wife, Sonya, announced that they were divorcing after 33 years of marriage.

References

See Also

References

External links

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