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Draymond: Opponents view Curry as soft due to upbringing, complexion

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Action Images

It's been an open secret around the NBA for a few years now that not all of Stephen Curry's contemporaries are huge fans of the two-time league MVP.

Guesses as to the reasons for that vary, but Curry's privileged upbringing as the son of an NBA player is often cited, especially considering the hurdles many other superstars faced early in life.

Related: Writer says LeBron, Westbrook don't particularly like Curry

His Golden State Warriors teammate Draymond Green is not afraid to take it a step further however, saying that Curry's light-skinned complexion unfairly marks him among some as soft.

"People just automatically think that, 'Man, this guy ain't from the hood, he ain't cut like that, he ain't cut from a different cloth. He's supposed to be soft and this, that,'" Green said recently on his Uninterrupted "Dray Day" podcast. "And of course, Steph is light-skinned, so they want to make him out to be soft."'

Prejudice of that sort is nothing new in various communities or in sports, but it's also a completely false narrative to paint Curry as a rich kid who had an easy path to stardom because of early-life privileges. While he did grow up comfortably as the son of Dell Curry, his basketball road was far from one like blue-chip teenage talent such as LeBron James or Kevin Durant.

Curry received zero scholarship offers from major Division I schools, and was told if he wanted to play at his father's alma mater Virginia Tech, that he would have to walk on. Instead he took tiny Davidson's offer, laying the groundwork for his stardom there. Once in the NBA, Curry then had to overcome early injury concerns before morphing into a player that helped revolutionize the game.

Green understands that.

"He's way more than what everyone expected him to be or ever gave him a shot to be," he said.

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