Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors warms up before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center on March 28, 2023, in San Francisco.
Loren Elliott/Getty ImagesKareem Abdul-Jabbar’s influence on today’s game is fading, despite being one of the NBA's greatest players of all time. According to him, there’s just one person to blame: Warriors star Steph Curry.
While speaking to reporters Wednesday in Oakland, the NBA’s former all-time scoring leader joked that nobody asks him how to do a skyhook anymore because of the darn arc 23 feet from the basket.
“They’ve forgotten about anything that does not say '3 points' on it,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I’ve got to go across the bay and slap Steph Curry for changing everybody’s mind about how to play the game.”
For what it’s worth, Curry previously addressed the notion that he’s changed the game of basketball for the worse because kids are now chucking up threes like they’ve got the range of an all-time shooter. He pointedly said in February 2022, “I did not tell you to shoot that shot.”
It’s also worth noting, again, that Abdul-Jabbar ended his comment with a smile and that the Hall of Fame center once said that Curry was his favorite player in the league.
As for what Abdul-Jabbar was doing in Oakland, he was there to congratulate players from Oakland High and Oakland Tech for their respective postseason successes. Oakland High’s boys team won their first state title, and Oakland Tech’s girls team won their third straight. Abdul-Jabbar also dished out some advice to the kids.
"My hope is that they get an understanding that education is key to success," Abdul-Jabbar, who’s a sports blogger in his own right, said. "And that science, engineering, technology and math are good fields to focus on."