Stephen Curry’s 9 Tips for a Basketball Practice Routine

NBA superstar Stephen Curry was born in 1988 and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. Stephen’s father, former NBA player Dell Curry, imbued him with a love for basketball and inspired Stephen to pursue the game professionally. After a meteoric college career with the Davidson Wildcats, Stephen went to the Golden State Warriors as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft. Stephen exceeded expectations for a player of his size, shattering numerous NBA records during his first five years in the league. Stephen scored more three-point field goals during the 2012–13 season than any individual player in league history and broke his own record during the 2014–15 season.

In 2015, Stephen won his first NBA championship, his second in 2017, and earned back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards in the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, the latter by unanimous vote—a first in NBA history. Led by head coach Steve Kerr, Stephen, power forward Kevin Durant, shooting guard Klay Thompson, powerhouse defender Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala, the Golden State Warriors won back-to-back NBA Finals in 2017 and 2018.

Fans and curious locals arrive hours before game time to catch a glimpse of Stephen’s unique practice routine. Check out eight of his essential tips to help develop your own practice routine:

1. 1. Drills of 100. When Stephen practices any technique, he focuses on achieving two goals: building confidence and muscle memory. For example, when practicing form shooting, Steph shoots five shots in front of the basket, then takes a big step back and makes another five shots, repeating the process until he’s made 20 baskets. Next, he performs the same shooting drill for each of the five main angles around the basket—from the far right corner to the far left—as a daily regular shooting routine.
2. 2. Combo drilling drills. The superstar player likes to practice different dribbling combinations to work on his technique. “A good way to practice … dribbles is to string them together in a combination. Try doing each six times, then each two times, each one time,” Stephen says. “Build your confidence level.” Standard dribbling drills include crossover, protective, running, low, power, and hand placement.
3. 3. Develop your endurance. When you’re first starting, long practice sessions might feel overwhelming or wear you out quickly. “You want to be able to build that endurance up,” Stephen says. When he was perfecting his shooting in high school, he would get tired after 30 or 40 shots, but quitting was not an option—he’d take a break to catch his breath and then return to practicing. He filled his days with great experience-building practice until he had the requisite strength to make 100 shots without exhausting himself.
4. 4. Build a strong foundation. As you improve in basketball, you may be eager to move on to more complex drills—combining passing, dribbling, shooting, and rebounding like when playing a game. “[Once] you start to master a certain drill,” Stephen says, that’s when you can “add a different element to it so you can take it to the next level. Before moving onto combination drills, make sure you can confidently make five shots in a row off a single pound dribble (when you stand in place, dribble once, and shoot).
5. 5. Simulate passes even when you’re alone. If you don’t have a gym partner or person to help you practice, don’t give up. Practice tossing the ball away from yourself with a little spin, which will encourage it to come back to you after it hits the ground. “The simple art of being able to throw the ball out with a little bit of backspin and get it into your shot is a great way to take advantage of those opportunities where you're in the gym by yourself,” Stephen says. “Simulate a pass coming into [your] shot pocket, … shoot from that position, get the ball back and do it again, from all different angles.”
6. 6. Work backward from your mistakes. If you’re consistently making the same mistake in practice, don’t keep repeating the shot with the hopes of improvement. Instead, Stephen recommends envisioning the ball and the finish, so you can work backward to determine the core of the issue. “When I start to miss the shot to the right,” Stephen says, “most of the time for me, that means that I'm fanning my follow-through. I'm not following through as straight as I normally would. When I'm missing short, most of the time, that means I'm only shooting with my arms, and I'm not using my base and my legs to be the foundation of my shot.”
7. 7. Don’t forget about footwork. “If you find yourself twisting or jumping too far” when shooting, Stephen says, “a good way to practice is to stand with both feet right behind the line, and make sure that you jump from behind the line and land behind the line.” That way, you build up your body’s familiarity with a stable shot. “A simple progression is five straight up and down, then five moving towards the basket, five moving away from the basket, and five to each side.”
8. 8. Add a second ball. It may sound extreme, but Stephen performs most of his dribbling drills with two basketballs instead of just one. “You have to start to be able to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” he explains. “When you add two basketballs to your dribbling workouts, there are some things that you need to focus on and some flaws that might show themselves because your brain is so overloaded.” Once you’re comfortable dribbling two basketballs in place, then it’s time to take them on the move to push yourself even further. “When it comes to ball handling, the responsibility is on you to find different ways to challenge yourself, to push the envelope, and take those drills to the next level,” Stephen says.
9. 9. Warm-up on game day. “When I step foot on the floor during our season to get ready to play, I always take time to go through my pre-game process,” Stephen says. “I get reacquainted with the basketball before I even take a shot.” Stephen’s pre-game practice starts with a two-ball dribbling sequence to “overload his coordination” and help him get ready to process a lot of information at once and make better decisions on the court. After practice, he does some form shooting to get in the scoring mindset. “Everybody could have a different routine that's unique to them, that makes them feel 100% ready to play,” Stephen says. “Whether that's copying mine or doing something on your own, I challenge you to find that.”

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