Splash Brothers
Additionally, they were teammates on the United States national team in 2014, winning the gold medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
After 13 years with Golden State, Thompson left to join the Dallas Mavericks in a six-team sign-and-trade deal on July 6, 2024.
[7] Curry did not receive athletic scholarship offers from any major universities, and his parents' alma mater, Virginia Tech, asked him to be a walk-on.
He landed at a mid-major basketball program in Davidson College, a small private school in North Carolina.
[8][9] As a sophomore, Curry's scoring and three-point shooting developed a national following as he led the Wildcats within a game of the Final Four in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
[13] Although the Warriors already had another lean, 6-foot-3, offensive-minded guard in Monta Ellis, coach Don Nelson had a penchant for using small lineups in his Nellie Ball system, and had warmed to the idea of selecting Curry.
[7][16] Two years later, while Curry and Ellis were still adjusting to each other, the Warriors added another scoring guard in the 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) Thompson, whom they drafted in the first round with the 11th overall pick in 2011.
[17] Towards the end of the season, Golden State traded the fan-favorite Ellis in a deal for center Andrew Bogut, leaving Curry to lead the team and opening the shooting guard position to Thompson, who provided needed size to their backcourt.
[a][21] Curry set an NBA record with 272 three-pointers, while Thompson added 211, at the time the 22nd best season in league history.
[17][22] Golden State advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs before losing to the eventual Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs.
Coming off NBA single-quarter records of 37 points and nine three-pointers during a 52-point game in January, Thompson was making his All-Star debut.
Curry and Thompson were the first backcourt mates to be selected All-NBA since 1979–80, when Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson of Seattle were both named to the second team.
[44] In honor of their 2015 championship, Golden State visited the White House in February 2016, and President Barack Obama opined that Thompson's jump shot was "actually a little prettier" than Curry's.
[46] Curry was voted into the All-Star Game as a starter, and Thompson was selected as a reserve along with teammate Draymond Green.
[49] With 24 games remaining in the season, Curry again surpassed his NBA record for three-pointers, reaching 288 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 121–118 win.
[57] Curry broke the NBA record for most three-pointers made in a single game with 13, breaking the previous of 12 he held jointly with Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall.
[68][69] With the two struggling with their shooting, Kevin Durant had been the Warriors best player in the playoffs, averaging a team-leading 35.4 points entering Game 5.
Curry led the Golden State to a Game 5 win after scoring 16 of his 25 points after Durant exited, while Thompson had seven of his 27 during that stretch.
[79] Fellow guard Jordan Poole emerged as a starter for the team and his success in three-point shooting led some media writers to call him the "Third Splash Brother".
[79][84] The Splash Brothers nickname refers to the duo's ability to "splash" the net with the ball, particularly on three-point shots,[23] and is a play on an older nickname for another pair of San Francisco Bay Area teammates, baseball players Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, who were known as the Bash Brothers when they played for the Oakland Athletics.
On December 21 against the Charlotte Bobcats, Curry and Thompson had combined for 25 points and seven 3-pointers by halftime, when Witt posted an update of their performance on the team's Twitter account with a #SplashBrothers hashtag; Golden State would win the game 115–100.
