It’s been a long time since the Warriors big three — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green — played NBA basketball together, but that didn’t stop them from representing Golden State at the team’s charity poker tournament.
The eighth annual tournament, created by Nicole Lacob, wife of team owner Joe Lacob, took place at the perfect time, with the Warriors in the midst of three off-days from the NBA schedule. Held at the plush St. Regis hotel in San Francisco, professional poker living legend Phil Hellmuth took some nice footage of Steph, Klay, and Dray getting their gamble on — for a good cause, clearly.
Here’s a great shot of Curry at the table, displaying a focus usually reserved for the court.
As you can tell, there were some heavy financial hitters at this tournament, which raised $2.3 million in one fabulous evening. Here’s Curry taking on the founder of Door Dash, with unfortunate results for The Golden Child.
Okay, that didn’t look that fun for Curry, even though it was good for the Warriors Foundation. Here’s Thompson and Green having a bit more of a good time at the table.
Just like a pick and roll at the top of the key when the Warriors really need a bucket, however, Curry and Green came through.
That’s fantastic stuff from the Warriors’ big three. Now, Golden State has to wait for them to appear on the court together for the first time since Thompson returned from his back-to-back season-ending injuries, except for a ceremonial appearance from Green before Thompson’s first game back. As Thompson returned, Green left with a calf/back injury that is expected to keep him out for a few more weeks at least.
Golden State is still No. 2 in the Western Conference, however. Thompson looks incredible, and maybe even a bit improved physically, which is crazy. Curry has worked himself out of his month-long shooting slump, to everyone’s relief (though that was more inevitable than death and taxes).
Now the Warriors are waiting on Green, but he’s proven resilient returning from injuries throughout his career. Because while it’s nice to cash out for charity, the idea is to cash in another trip to the NBA Finals and win the Larry O’Brien trophy, led by Golden State’s original big three — and the entire NBA is waiting for them to play basketball together once again. For now, poker will have to do.
Also, props to Nicole Lacob for winning it all for the second time and flossing plenty of Warriors championship hardware.
EXTRA: Green and Curry (green curry? That’s saucy) had some friendly competition over whose custom, autographed poker table would bring more at auction during the event.
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