Stephen Curry is known for hitting deep 3-point shots and buzzer-beaters from half-court — but even the celebrated Warriors guard didn't sink five consecutive full-court baskets, despite a convincingly edited video that swept social media this week.
The clip of the 34-year-old NBA star racked up more than 28 million views and more than 40,000 shares on Twitter after Sports Illustrated posted it on Sunday.
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“Steph Gonna STEPH,” the Warriors tweeted.
“Mark him as a menace to society,” Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant wrote.
However, five full-court shots in a row would have been an otherworldly feat even for Curry, the reigning NBA Finals MVP for the defending champion Warriors and the NBA’s all-time 3-point leader since he passed Ray Allen last December.
Here's a look at the facts.
CLAIM: A video posted online by Sports Illustrated shows Curry making five consecutive full-court shots.
THE FACTS: “If it’s on the internet, it’s real! Right, Klay? It’s real! It’s REAL!” Curry yelled to an Associated Press reporter on Monday, referring to his teammate Klay Thompson before scurrying away in delight.
But Curry was just having some fun. The clip of him lobbing five one-handed shots across the full length of a practice court, sinking every one, was “not real,” said Raymond Ridder, Warriors senior vice president of communications.
“He could do that, but not five in a row,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I think just the fact that it’s Steph made people pause and wonder if it was real. That’s all you need to know about Steph. Pretty remarkable.”
Sports Illustrated tweeted the clip on Sunday saying, “Just finished a shoot with @stephencurry30, this dude just can’t miss." Its tweet credited the video to Ari Fararooy, a video creator known for executing similar video tricks with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.
The video appeared ahead of Sports Illustrated's announcement of Curry as a December cover star and 2022 Sportsperson of the Year. The outlet on Tuesday acknowledged that the video “is, in fact, not real.”
“We had some fun with it,” Curry said in a postgame interview Monday. “I did make two of them, though, just in case anybody was wondering.”
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.