For Steph Curry, Three Is the Magic Number

The new Apple TV+ documentary Stephen Curry: Underrated may not be what fans of the Golden State Warriors’ point guard are expecting.

Despite an opening sequence set on December 14, 2021 — the night Curry broke the record for 3-pointers in a career — the film is not a highlight reel of #30’s time in the NBA. Nor is it a hagiography filled with adoring talking-head interviews. Heck, while it celebrates Curry’s skill as a player and the seeming ease with which he takes shots from outside the paint, that Curry’s style of play has been at the forefront of how the game of basketball has changed in recent years is not the film’s focus.

Instead, Underrated functions more as an origin story for one of the game’s current superstars, a smaller-than-average player who’s had an outsized impact on his teams — and the NBA overall. That’s a good and a bad thing.

The film is centered around Curry’s three years playing at Davidson College (he went pro after his junior year). Thankfully, it doesn’t paint his rise as a smooth one; we learn about multiple setbacks and disappointments, but how, each time he faltered, Curry found the will and determination to keep at it. With the support and coaching of Bob McKillop, Curry came into his own — both as a player and a team leader: In 2008, he led the Wildcats to 25 consecutive wins before they made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA March Madness tournament, the first time since 1969 that the team made it that far.

Of course, since then, Curry has also led the Warriors to four NBA Championships — most recently in 2022, after besting the Boston Celtics four games to two in the finals.

By dispensing with a standard chronological timeline and maintaining such a tight focus, Underrated is able to provide context for all that comes after, and distinguish itself from other sports documentaries that are more of a career retrospective. And sure, that means Curry’s time in the NBA is given mostly short shrift, but director Peter Nicks apparently figures those are highlights we’ve already seen. Curry’s games at the lesser-known Davidson didn’t receive as much exposure at the time, so the footage of those matchups is more revelatory.

That said, the longer the film stays focused on Curry’s collegiate career (it makes up more than half the film), the more Underrated becomes a tribute not to Curry himself but to McKillop, who was instrumental in building Curry’s confidence and molding him into the player he is today. It’s clear that McKillop remains a guiding force in Curry’s life — he was on hand to celebrate Curry’s accomplishment the night he broke the 3-point record — and, given the way his role is portrayed here, we’re left to think that Curry would never have gone very far without his head coach.

But this means Underrated doesn’t have much time for Curry’s impressive career after Davidson. In fact, it covers Curry’s time in the NBA from the start in 2009 through the 2021–22 season in just about 15 minutes total, with most of that time spent on the 2021–22 season. I’m not saying the film needed to cover Curry’s pro career more comprehensively. Just that the way it does cover those years seems tacked on and perfunctory.

With that in mind, perhaps the film’s biggest omission is any real discussion of the influence Curry’s three-point shooting has had on the NBA. Given the film’s apparent theme of Curry being considered “underrated,” you might think that’s a significant point to make: that he didn’t adjust to the game as much as it’s adjusted to him. It’s not until a short mid-credits interview clip featuring Reggie Miller that it’s even mentioned how impactful this style of play has been.

We also don’t hear from some notable figures in Curry’s life or get some of the other backstories that’ve contributed to his formation and evolution as a player. For example, while there’s a lot about Curry’s parents’ unwavering support of their son’s playing through the years, the couple’s divorce in 2021 and how that may have affected Curry is never brought up. (Though, the film does include an amusing and endearing anecdote about how, when they were recruiting Curry, coaches from Davidson became worried when they couldn’t reach him. Turns out, Steph’s mother took away his phone after he’d received a text message from a friend who’d used profane language.)

And there’s no interview with Curry’s wife, Ayesha, or his Warriors coach, Steve Kerr. A couple of his Wildcat teammates are featured, and former teammates like Kevin Durant make appearances, but not his current ones. Odd omissions, for sure.

And so, all told, Underrated is a film that’s fine, but that doesn’t seem complete or entirely worthy of its subject. Having seen the movie, even though I consider myself a Celtics fan, I wouldn’t consider myself a bigger fan of Curry. So that’s why I’m only giving Underrated a seemingly appropriate three-point grade: a B.