NBA superstar Steph Curry has been masterful in Golden State’s system, which has always surrounded him with the proper pieces needed for him to do what he does best. Now that Steph, 36 and in his 16th NBA season, has to carry a team with no other player of his caliber to turn to when the chips are down, the former dynasty is struggling as an 11th seed.
Rashard McCants Says Playing With Steph Curry Can Be Detrimental To Player Development
Curry has taken some of the public blame for the team’s demise. Gilbert Arenas’ “Gil’s Arena” podcast is always a place to go for some shocking takes.
On a recent episode, co-host Rashad McCants referenced former NBA player Eric Paschall’s comments, that he couldn’t excel in a system designed around featuring Steph Curry’s long-range shooting strengths.
Said McCants: “Eric Paschall just said playing with Steph is difficult because the system doesn’t adjust to nobody else. So if you got a game at any other position you gotta sacrifice, sitting in the corner, watching him come off screens, nobody getting a screen, none of that so it’s like … nah, they don’t let you progress over there.”
Arenas nodded his head in agreement throughout McCants’ negative take on Curry.
The video then cuts to a clip of Eric Paschall referencing that situation, where he lasted just two years with Golden State after getting drafted in the second round out of Villanova in 2019. Paschall averaged 14 points per game over 60 games while averaging close to 28 minutes per game in his rookie season. Injuries to top stars allowed him the freedom to showcase his potential as a scorer.
However, Paschall, who once said in an interview that Steve Kerr was “annoying,” says the team had other plans on how he would be utilized going forward and his minutes dropped.
“Y’all can look at me as mini Draymond, but I like to score and my mentally at that point I couldn’t do it,” Paschall said on the video clip posted by Entirely NBA. “I’m going in there thinking like, I got my chance. So I’m just hooping. Steph and them came back, and Dray was hurt early in the season. I couldn’t play with Steph early in the season. I’m still gonna do me, y’all see what I did last year, that’s what I’m thinking. But I can’t do that because I’m on the floor with Steph all the time.”
Paschall said he believed he would get the opportunity to continue to play in a style that was exhibiting his all-around game, but once Steph returned from injury Paschall wasn’t trying to go back to being a stunted role player.
Continued Paschall: “I ended up asking to come off the bench. I was not wired to set a screen, pass up an open shot. What? If I’m open, I’m shooting it. It gave a false reality of how the NBA works.”
Gil’s Arena Podcast Says Being Unable To Play In Steph Curry System Killed Eric Paschall’s NBA Career?
Being unable to adjust to a system where an aging legend is the centerpiece can also send one’s career into a quick exit. After his first two NBA seasons with Golden State, Paschall was traded to the Utah Jazz for a 2026 second-round draft pick. He played 58 games with the Jazz and in July of 2022, he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a one-year, two-way contract deal. He was waived on Oct. 16.
By 2023, Paschall played overseas with Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) and in 2024 he signed with Pistoia Basket 2000 of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).
The New York native has yet to get another crack at the NBA.
Aging Superstars LeBron James and Steph Curry No Longer Have Teams, Energy To Contend For NBA Titles
We have seen the narratives surrounding legendary NBA players consistently change as they age and the peak years, where their teams were competing for titles give way to a focus on career accomplishments rather than team goals.
Every NBA legend has a run, and few get the opportunity to go out as champions. LeBron James and Steph Curry have owned the NBA together for much of the past 15 years. In that time frame they have won eight NBA titles, six MVPs and numerous head-to-head Finals clashes over that span.
With both aging, playing with ever-changing rosters and leading teams that are middle of the pack in talent, it’s been a struggle for these icons to find an elite groove. To many, their better days are behind them, but those glimpses of greatness keep everyone hopeful that they have one last great run in them.
We have heard whispers over the years from players mentioning that it was difficult to play with LeBron James because you had to fit your style into his system of hoops. For most of his career his system was chasing championships, so few could argue with his methods and be considered worthy of that opinion.
The Lakers, even with their struggles, are a fifth seed in the West with a 24-18 record. James also has another Top 75 player in Anthony Davis to help carry the weight.
Now for the first time we are hearing this about Curry. Inevitably there are players who probably attribute their career demise to being on a team with LeBron or Curry, but were smart enough to keep it to themselves. But for every Eric Paschall, who felt overshadowed as Kyrie Irving did after his title with LBJ in Cleveland, there is an Andre Iguodala, Tristan Thompson and JR Smith who can attribute a great deal of their riches and notoriety to playing with a legend of the game.
