Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors dives out of bounds during the third quarter against the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round NBA playoffs at Toyota Center on April 20, 2025, in Houston, Texas.
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At least a few of Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry’s NBA peers have a completely asinine view of how the 37-year-old gets officiated.
The Athletic dropped its annual anonymous player poll on Tuesday, interviewing more than a third of the NBA to get feedback on various topics. One question asked if the league had “more balance” between offense and defense after the NBA made officiating adjustments to allow for more physicality in recent years. Most of the 153 respondents for that question said the game is either still too biased toward offense (55.6%) or that it is balanced (35.3%), but 3.3% said it’s inconsistent — and some of the quotes the Athletic picked out to support that viewpoint single out Curry in particular.
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“I think it’s not even titled toward offense, it’s toward who you’re playing against,” one anonymous player said. “I think the physicality only applies to certain players. If you’re not known, OK, you can get hit. But if you’re [going against] Steph or LeBron, you can’t get that physical.”
Another anonymous player said, “Certain players get certain calls. That’s understandable. Kind of the way it works. Steph Curry, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, they are going to get calls.”
In so many ways, though, the idea that Curry gets superstar calls from referees is laughable. For one, Curry ranked 49th in the NBA at fouls drawn per game this season, only drawing 3.5. (Doncic was fifth at 5.9 and James was 41st at 3.8.) That has Curry tied with Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III and the Clippers’ Norman Powell and nearly a full foul per game less than Austin Reaves of the Lakers.
Not only that, but over the course of his career, Curry has also been a true anomaly among the NBA superstar class. The NBA has a stat called usage rate, which measures a percentage of a team’s plays that end thanks to an action from a specific player — like a jump shot, a turnover or free throws. The higher a player’s usage rate, the more often they have the ball in their hands.
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Most top players in the league have usage rates near or above 30%. Curry’s career usage rate is 29%. According to Stathead, there have been 33 players in NBA history with over 15,000 minutes played and a usage rate above 28%. In this group, Curry is tied with Kyrie Irving for the fewest free throw attempts per game, at 4.3. Only Glenn Robinson (4.4), a two-time All-Star player across his 11 years in the league, joins Curry and Irving at less than 5.0 per game.
Of course, Curry not shooting as many free throws would be understandable given his prolific jump-shooting ability — though some would argue Curry should get more calls when players invade his landing space on jumpers. But Curry also moves far more than most superstars without the ball on offense, and all of the holds, grabs, knockdowns and general contact he endures when moving off-ball rarely get called, if ever.
Game 1 against the Rockets was a seemingly perfect example of this, as NBC Sports Bay Area illustrated in a highlight clip during the game. Broadcasters Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike have frequently pointed out how Curry mostly gets ignored by officials when he doesn’t have the ball despite getting bullied all the time.
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Curry’s new teammate Jimmy Butler also made note of all the contact after a regular season game earlier this month, saying he has “never seen an individual get fouled more than he gets fouled.” But clearly, at least a few of their NBA compatriots don’t see the same thing.
