"He's done a lot of things that probably angered other players" - Matt Barnes reveals some NBA players have hatred for Curry

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"He's done a lot of things that probably angered other players" - Matt Barnes reveals some NBA players have hatred for Curry originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Stephen Curry never walked into the league demanding attention.
Steph didn't have the build of a franchise savior or the personality of a dominant alpha. He was skinny. He smiled a lot. He shot jumpers. And for a while, that was all people saw.
They figured Curry would have a decent career, maybe hit a few big shots, sell some tickets, and go home. Nobody saw what was coming.
But somewhere between the early ankle injuries and the parades down Market Street, he rewrote the blueprint. What Curry did wasn't loud, angry or packaged in the usual swagger. It just kept showing up, every night, right in people's faces.
"I think, he came in, he's the golden boy," Matt Barnes, a 14-year NBA veteran, said, explaining why some in the NBA grew to resent the Warriors guard. "He came in and destroyed record books, won championships, beat LeBron [James] — he's done a lot of things that probably angered other players and other fans. That's why I don't think he gets the respect he deserves."
The golden boy
Barnes played with Kobe Bryant. He guarded Kevin Durant and threw elbows in the old Western Conference when it was still gritty and bruising. If anyone understands how resentment brews in NBA circles, it's him. And Matt was speaking from a place of knowing what players say behind the curtain.
Curry didn't climb the league's hierarchy the traditional way, dominate the combine, or get handed the keys as a rookie. Steph had to break through gradually by changing the game as he went.
Suddenly, coaches were telling kids to shoot 3-pointers on the break. Suddenly, seven-footers were stuck chasing him out to the perimeter. Teams started building rosters around the space he created. The league had never seen anything like it.
By the time everyone realized how far ahead of the curve he was, it was too late. The Warriors were already rolling. Curry was already MVP, and the foundation of basketball, as people knew it, had already started to shift.What people see, and what they can't stand
There's something about Curry that still doesn't sit right with many people, and it's rarely about his game.
Steph's skill set is impossible to argue with. The shooting numbers are absurd and the hardware speaks loudly. However, it's the image that rubs some players the wrong way.
"He's obviously the greatest shooter to ever play the game, and I can see people being bitter from that," Barnes said. "Not to mention the whole light-skinned thing, and people have problems with that. Like I said, he's a perfect example of what the NBA needs to be represented as, and people don't like that either. Most of the time when people are so good or something's so perfect, people don't like that, and that's exactly what you get with Steph."
That part is hard to quantify, but it's real. Curry came in with a clean image.
Family man, college sweetheart and son of a former pro, Steph looked polished before he ever won anything, which perhaps bothered people. He didn't fit the underdog narrative the league loves to market, but he also wasn't built like the superstars who came before him.
There was no sense of threat, or physical intimidation, or that chip-on-the-shoulder meanness.
And then Curry started winning everything.
SC broke 3-point records in his sleep and hit daggers from 35 feet and jogged back on defense before the ball dropped. He embarrassed defenses and didn't need to say a word while doing it. Steph took the heart out of playoff teams just by moving without the ball. For players who had spent their whole careers chasing respect through force, watching someone dance his way to dominance like that didn't sit well.
Barnes brought up skin tone because he knows it plays a role in how players are perceived. There's always been a cultural undercurrent in the league regarding style and identity.
The way Curry presents himself — quiet, corporate-friendly, camera-ready — is what the league pushes forward. And that's maybe what some players push back against.
But Curry has heard it all: the slights and the subtle digs from players who never found a way to stop him.
He doesn't fire back, nor does he chase validation. Steph just keeps doing what he does.
Jealousy's a quiet thing in the NBA. You don't hear it as much as you feel it. But when a former player says it out loud, you can bet he is not guessing.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 28, 2025, where it first appeared.