With the rest of the world quarantined into their homes due to the coronavirus outbreak, a number of players are regularly going live on social media as of late. It’s been quite interesting as it has become a venue for the stars and the fans to interact like never before, and is helping alleviate the growing boredom. The spontaneity is making players relay some untold stories as well, so each session is arguably a must-watch.

Miami Heat legend and future NBA Hall-of-Famer Dwyane Wade is among those guys. He did a couple of Instagram live sessions this week, one of which had him doing a ‘Q & A’ with his followers.

One of the questions he got led to a discussion on Golden State Warriors superstar and two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry, who’s possibly the greatest shooter ever. The two didn’t have particularly memorable battles and weren’t even able to meet in their respective primes, but Wade has a clear idea about Steph’s strengths. He has a surprising answer that makes a lot of sense.

“One of Steph’s greatest strengths that a lot of people [don’t talk about] – because they talk about all the threes and the ball-handling – is Steph never stops moving off the ball… When Steph gives the ball up, that’s when he’s most dangerous, and that’s crazy to think, right? Because when he has the ball, he’s unguardable.”

“But when he does not have the ball, forget about it. He’s like Rip Hamilton and Ray Allen when it comes to conditioning and shape that he’s in and the way he’s able to run.”

Curry’s movement without the ball is indeed among the best today – as if needed a boost for his already insane shooting and range, right? It’s is part of the reason he’s is such a headache for defenses. He doesn’t need much real estate to bury a shot, and even if defenders are able to contest, their energy is already drained by the non-stop chase.

The stats also back-up Wade’s claims. Just in the 2018-19 season, Curry led the league in points (9.5) and threes per game (3.0) in catch-and-shoot situations. In each of the three prior seasons before that, he also averaged over seven points and two made threes.

Curry and Wade’s playing style are very different, but they have similar accolades as both have one scoring title and three championships in five finals appearances. The former, though, still has plenty of time to add more in his trophy case. Let’s just hope the pandemic slows down soon so we can finally have NBA basketball back.