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Steph Curry is a legend in his home state of North Carolina, where he shined at Charlotte Christian School before becoming a national figure at Davidson. He inspired plenty of other local basketball stars along the way, including one that he faced in the 2022 NBA Finals: Celtics forward Grant Williams.
A fellow Charlotte native, Williams wore No. 30 at Providence Day School as a nod to Curry, before going on to star at Tennessee.
The two faced off in the finals, with Curry winning his first NBA Finals MVP and fourth title with the Warriors over Williams’s Celtics in six games.
Curry received an impressive trio of honors at Davidson on Wednesday afternoon. After finishing up his coursework in May, 13 years after leaving for the NBA, Davidson held a special graduation ceremony for its most famous alumnus. To go with it, they inducted him into the college’s Hall of Fame, and retired his No. 30, making him the first Wildcats alum to receive that honor.
Williams recorded a video for Curry that was shown during the ceremony. In it, he acknowledged what the Warriors guard meant to him growing up, while nodding to the fact that Curry is the main reason why he cannot call himself an NBA champion.
“First off, I wanted to say congratulations for a huge accomplishment. It’s a blessing. I wore 30 in high school because of you. I’m not wearing a ring because of you,” Williams said, before adding that he’ll see the NBA star again next year.
Curry averaged 31.2 points, five assists and six rebounds in the six-game series win over Williams and Boston, posting .482/.437/.857 shooting splits. Of course, Wednesday’s ceremony came about because Curry became eligible for a host of honors by graduating from the school. The NBA Finals and MVP win were just cherries on top for Curry and Davidson, much to the chagrin of Williams and Celtics fans everywhere.
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