Stephen Curry truly embodies sheer drive and conditioning. Case in point: the full-court star drill. Picture him darting full speed from corner to corner, then from wing to wing, then to the top of the key, firing away at five spots behind the three-point line, making a specified 8 out of 10 in less than 55 seconds. Curry did it in less than 50 seconds, looking cool as a cucumber in a 2023 video posted on X from The Warriors Talk.
“It does matter what drills you do,” Curry said, per NBA. “But what matters more is how hard you can go.”
Rare glimpse of Stephen Curry’s “full-court star” drill with coach Brandon Payne. In this highly difficult drill Steph runs full court sprints to each spot behind the arc. Corner to corner, wing to wing, top of the key to top of the key. In order to pass the drill he needs to… pic.twitter.com/9yM1MFtRHp
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) August 5, 2023
According to Curry’s trainer Brandon Payne, other NBA players who attempted this drill ended up throwing up.
“I’ve designed drills that I thought would be impossible… He still figures out ways to get it done,” Payne said. “There is nobody that craves improvement and relentlessly goes after it the way that he does.”
Curry’s obsessive focus on breath control and recovery has been reported to lower his heart rate below 80 beats per minute in 90-second timeouts (Inside Hook), meaning that the Warriors star could likely shoot lights out after the exhaustion has floor most players.
Curry puts every training session in playoff potential mode; perfection has a time limit. “It’s game-like intensity,” Payne says, justifying the fact that Curry would be logging about 2.5 miles a game per Warriors’ numbers, making it incomprehensible how he sweats. The entire thing is a discipline clinic-90 minutes to up to three hours of insane work, not boring drudgery, punctuated with recovery intervals to stave off burnout.
Coach Steve Kerr also stated through NBA that Curry’s consistency is akin to Roger Federer – clockwork precision backed by metronomic hard work.
What makes Curry different is his mentality, the four-time NBA champion isn’t grinding; he’s outsmarting fatigue, refining his craft in every sprint and every shot.
The “full-court star” drill gives a glimpse why Steph Curry’s legacy as the greatest shooter of all time is getting bigger and bigger.
Stephen Curry’s secret to staying cool under pressure
FLIP THE CHANNEL TO #NBAALLSTAR ALL IN ONE NIGHT ON TNT!
— NBA (@NBA) March 8, 2021
Stephen Curry heats up and knocks down the decisive money ball to win his 2nd #MtnDew3PT title! pic.twitter.com/UwaRJaDw6j
Steph Curry’s got a gift for staying calm, even when the NBA’s intensity is cranking up. There’s his summer classic: 21. Curry had to get busy scoring 21 points in less than a minute by shooting from everywhere, running between every shot; it was to kill his legs and lungs while keeping his jumper alive for those do-or-die moments down the stretch.
What really amazes is how Curry’s mindset is about the minutiae. He and Payne have some kind of system that allows them to analyze every shot; they consider a ball a miss when it fails to swish through the net completely. It’s mental perfectionism without too much emotionalism.
Every offseason and practice starts with intense conditioning and breathwork aimed at building endurance. Sleeping right and eating smart all are part of him because they empower his game.
This is precisely the reason Curry is not just another star but the best ever to grace the NBA stage, and this is just a conclusion to the best note-performer in crunchtime under duress while smiling.
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I am a writer passionate about telling the stories behind the game of basketball. From the culture and personalities shaping the sport to the moments that define it, I explore basketball beyond the box score.
