The Splash Brothers have more than just ice in their veins.
The notoriously outstanding duo of guards also have NBA royalty flowing through their veins.
Once dubbed “the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game” by then-head coach Mark Jackson all the way back in 2013, before they had even won a thing, the Golden State Warriors duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson has lived up to the title and then some.
Beloved by their fanbase, the iconic duo is nicknamed the Splash Brothers for their ability to splash in 3’s and because of their team, the Warriors, playing in the Bay Area of California — first in Oakland, now in San Francisco. Oh, and on top of that, there was another notorious (for more reasons than one) pair of teammates from Oakland that had a catchy, similar nickname — the Bash Brothers of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, who once suited up for MLB’s Oakland Athletics.
Steph was selected seventh overall in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft, while Klay followed two years later as the 11th overall pick in the 2011 draft, and they’ve remained teammates ever since.
Both Curry and Thompson have a family lineage hailing from the NBA, with some pretty well-known fathers — and brothers — that have played in the game.
Curry
Curry has set and re-set and re-set 3-point marks in the NBA, currently standing as the record-holder for most 3-point makes in a season and a career, having passed Ray Allen earlier during the 2021-22 season.
Consider that he led the NBA in 3-point attempts and makes five seasons in a row (from 2012 to 2017) and again regained that mantle the past two seasons. And even with all that shooting, he’s still fourth on the active and 12th on the career lists for 3-point percentage at .428 percent.
Curry is also first on the list of free-throw percentage for a career at .908 percent, having led the league in that category four times as well.
Thanks to his record-setting ways, Curry became the first player to ever win the NBA MVP award unanimously in 2015-16, which was his second MVP award as well.
All that shooting prowess comes from a lifetime of hard work, no doubt about it, as Curry’s shooting drills and rigorous workouts are well known by now.
Yet, he also has a bit of great-shooting genes on his side as well.
His father, Dell Curry, was one of the most well-known 3-point marksmen before 3-point shooting was as en vogue as it is now.
The elder Curry, Dell, was the franchise leader in 3-pointers made and points for the Charlotte Hornets when he retired. Dell led the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage in the 1998-99 season with a mark of .476 percent, and he still stands at 40th on the career list in that same category.
He finished in the top 10 in that percentage seven total times from 1991 through 2001, finishing 11th once as well. Dell played from 1986-87 until 2001-02 with 1,083 total regular season games across his career. He also won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 1993-94 as the best player coming off the bench in the league.
Actually, son Steph is named after his dad, with them both having the name Wardell Stephen Curry.
The elder took the nickname “Dell” from Wardell, and is now Wardell Stephen Curry, Sr. while the younger took the nickname “Steph” from Stephen, with his given name as Wardell Stephen Curry II.
The 34-year-old Steph has a younger brother in the NBA as well, Seth Curry, who played for both the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets this past year.
Funny enough, even though Steph boasts the accolades and worldwide fame with his record and three NBA championship rings, the younger Seth actually has a better career 3-point field goal percentage.
The 31-year-old Seth stands at .439 percent from 3-point land, which is tops among active players and is the third-best in the history of the league.
Back in 2013, the pair of brothers were even on the Warriors at the same time before Golden State waived Seth in October, as he didn’t ever suit up for the team. It looked like Seth would have a hard time breaking into the league as he was waived several times and didn’t catch on with a full, guaranteed contract until 2015 with the Sacramento Kings as he worked and worked to carve a niche for himself. Once he took off with the Dallas Mavericks, Seth has stayed a steady player in the league.
Seth and Steph faced off in the Western Conference Finals in 2019 when Seth was on the Portland Trailblazers, but Steph’s Warriors won running away in a 4-0 sweep.
Furthermore, both Seth and Steph have brothers-in-law in the NBA as well currently, even playing together on one level.
By virtue of their sister, Sydel Curry, who married current Warrior and Steph teammate Damion Lee, Lee became a member of their extended family. Meanwhile, when Seth married former pro volleyball player Callie Rivers, the family grew even more NBA heritage as she is the daughter of former player and current head coach Doc Rivers, whose son, Austin Rivers, also plays in the NBA.
Austin has been on the other side of many battles with Steph’s Warriors, being on the Houston Rockets teams that went up against (and lost to) Golden State as well as being a member of this year’s Denver Nuggets team that lost to the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
Thompson
The younger of The Splash Brothers, Thompson also ranks very highly on plenty of shooting lists in the NBA.
His career mark of .417 percent from 3-point land is just a hair below Steph, and has Thompson at sixth on the active list and 16th on the career leaderboard.
Just like Steph, Thompson’s father had a long and successful NBA career.
Mychal Thompson entered the league a bit before Dell Curry, joining in 1978, and he won two championships as a key member of the title-winning Los Angeles Lakers in back-to-back seasons, 1986-87 and again in 1987-88.
The elder Thompson averaged 13.7 points per game during his career, peaking at 20.8 with the Portland Trailblazers and playing in the NBA until he was 36. The playing careers of the Curry and Thompson dads overlapped from the 1986-87 season through Mychal leaving the NBA after the 1990-91 season.
Mychal also had two sons make it to the NBA, as Klay’s brother, the almost same-named as his dad Mychel Thompson (notice the -a and -e difference) played in the NBA once upon a time.
But the comparisons don’t go as far as they do with the Curry’s, as Mychal was a big man, mostly playing power forward and center in his career, while Dell played guard like his two sons.
And while both Curry boys are still in the league, the younger Mychel Thompson only had one season in the pros, playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2011-12 season as a guard.
Like his father though, Klay has made a big impression on both sides of the ball, for his defense as much as his offense when he was at his peak. Mychal Thompson finished in the top 20 for rebounding four times, and the top 12 in blocks twice during his career.
On top of that, Klay and Mychal are the fourth father-son duo in the history of the league to both win an NBA title.
Mychal Thompson stood at 6-foot-10 during his playing days, while both his sons, Klay and Mychel, are listed at 6-foot-6.
Future family
As family lineage plays a bigger and bigger role in not just the NBA, but professional sports these days, we wouldn’t be too shocked if there are more Currys or Thompsons to come into the league down the line in the future (or maybe even WNBA?). Steph and his wife currently have three children — one daughter and two sons, while Klay is not known to be married or have any children of his own as of now.
One more note about all that athleticism, as even if it’s not in professional basketball, we could see some pros come from the family line down the line — both Klay and Steph are born to moms, Julie Thompson and Sonya Curry, respectively, who played collegiate volleyball. That kinda explains their immense talents and knack for sports for the pair as well.
The Splash Brothers have quite a lineage themselves, with both Klay and Steph having won an NBA 3-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend (Dell Curry also competed in the contest during his career).
Way back in 2012-13, Steph and Klay even combined to make the most 3-pointers by teammates in the history of the league. Moreover, the duo also became the first combination of guards from the same team to be named to the All-NBA Team since 1979-80 as well as the first pair of teammates starting in the All-Star game together since 1975, both in the 2014-15 season.
For now, both Steph and Klay are currently aiming for their fourth NBA title as teammates, as they will face off against the Boston Celtics for the right to the 2021-22 crown. It’s the sixth time in eight years the teammates have made it to the final round of the playoffs.
Published: May 31, 2022 11:49 pm