Picture this. Stephen Curry, not in the NBA, not draining logo threes, but on the sidelines of a high school gym. Whistle around his neck, clipboard in hand, coaching teenagers through practice drills. That version of Steph almost happened, according to Ayesha Curry.
During a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Ayesha opened up about Steph’s early plans before he ever became a basketball icon. “I didn’t know that he was going to end up playing basketball,” she said. “He said he wanted to be a high school basketball coach.”
Back when the two met in 2003, Steph’s NBA stardom wasn’t on the radar. They started dating in 2009, and Ayesha admitted that she hated the spotlight at first. At that point, Steph hadn’t been drafted yet, and she even advised him to stay in school. He ignored that advice and entered the 2009 NBA draft, where the Golden State Warriors picked him seventh overall.
Safe to say, things worked out. “He ended up finishing anyway and has gone on to do tremendous, incredible, cool stuff that we never thought would happen, so it’s great,” Ayesha said.
Now, the couple is raising four kids and balancing fame, business ventures, and a long-term relationship that has evolved in the public eye. And Steph? He is still hooping like he has something to prove. In the 2024–25 season, he averaged 24.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 6 assists. He also made the All-NBA Second Team.
Still, the idea of Steph trading the NBA spotlight for a classroom and a bench is pretty wild. No championships. No three-point revolution. Just Coach Curry sketching out plays in a high school gym.
Unbiased Take:
Stories like this show how close some of the biggest names came to living a completely different life. Behind every celebrity is a version of their story that almost happened. Steph made the leap, and the league was never the same.
