Warriors

Steph Curry among Warriors at Juan Toscano-Anderson's Oakland protest

Steph Curry among Warriors at Juan Toscano-Anderson's Oakland protest

By Drew Shiller June 03, 2020 1:01 PM

How did Warriors superstar Steph Curry spend his Wednesday afternoon?

He took part in a peaceful protest against police brutality and systemic racism at Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Curry and his wife, Ayesha, kneeled during the protest.

Juan Toscano-Anderson, an Oakland native and Warriors forward, organized the event.

"No matter the color of your skin, where you're from, how much money you got -- it doesn't matter," Toscano-Anderson said to those who gathered. "We're all human beings. We're all here for the same purpose.

"Right now, it's about black people. But for humanity, there's people all over the world being oppressed. We're just trying to take a step in the right direction."

[RELATED: Brees still believes kneeling is 'disrespecting the flag']

Additional members of the Warriors arrived after the walk began.

Protests around the country continue in response to George Floyd's tragic death last week while in police custody in Minneapolis.

How Steph Curry, Warriors' brand continues to make huge global impact

How Steph Curry, Warriors' brand continues to make huge global impact

By Jessica Kleinschmidt July 06, 2020 1:45 PM

Despite the down season and not being one of the 22 teams invited to the Orlando restart, the Warriors still manage to be a global phenomenon.

In an interview with The Athletic, P.K. Ong, co-founder of the SG Basketball academy which has multiple venues in Singapore, said that’s apparent. It showed quickly with the pace of the way they sell out of a certain superstar’s jersey. 

“Whenever you go into a (sporting goods) store, Steph Curry jerseys are the first thing you see when you walk in," Ong said. "They’re everywhere,."

Ong also told The Athletic, the shift changed in who the kids he coached looked up to off the court as well. They went from being huge Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant fans to wanting to shoot three-pointers like Steph.

Don’t we all want that?

Back in 2018, a group of the campers joined Ong for a trip to the Bay Area. They went on a tour of the Warriors practice facility and ran drills with some of the coaching staff. It was a “dream come true,” for the kids.

The global influence doesn’t stop there. Klay Thompson, AKA #ChinaKlay made a persona for himself when with his popularity surging in the country and his shoe deal with the Chinese brand Anta.

And I mean, check out the turnout when he arrives:

[RELATED: Bronny James jokes Steph is his dad]

Steph made a trip to Japan last summer with hopes of growing the game of basketball across the world, and the moment he got off the plane, it was chaos, but in the best way.

He, along with the team, make an impact everywhere they go. 

Warriors' Rick Welts shares funny story of being mistaken for Joe Lacob

Warriors' Rick Welts shares funny story of being mistaken for Joe Lacob

By Drew Shiller July 06, 2020 12:34 PM

Warriors team president Rick Welts went to Croatia for vacation in the summer of 2018.

Wearing a Warriors hat in a restaurant resulted in a waiter saying, "Curry, yeah!" Welts recently explained to Daniel Brown of The Athletic.

Soon thereafter, other employees began to believe they were in the presence of Warriors owner Joe Lacob.

“He just started screaming to his co-workers there, ‘Joe Lacob! Joe Lacob! Joe Jacob!' " Welts told Brown. “I was waving, ‘No, no, no!’ but I gave up.

"So, I impersonated Joe Lacob — and got really good service from this really tiny restaurant in Croatia.”

Now that is a savvy play from a seasoned veteran.

[RUNNIN' PLAYS PODCAST: Listen to the latest episode]

Welts has helped turn the Warriors into a global brand, which is why the franchise elected not to change its name to the San Francisco Warriors when they relocated from Oakland to Chase Center.

"What's happened in the interim is the Warriors, with the success we've had on the floor, have now become the team that everyone knows around the world," Welts told Warriors radio voice Tim Roye in April 2017. "More Steph Curry jerseys are sold around the world than any other player in the NBA. More Warriors merchandise than any other team in the NBA.

"So now, I think we've done a 100 percent reversal, saying, 'You know, we have a lot of equity in this Golden State name and it really means something around the world.' "

And that includes Croatia.

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