Matthew "Delly" Dellavedova and How an Undrafted Bench Warmer Became Known as the Curry Stopper

With the conclusion of the '21-22 NBA season, the Kings officially made league history…
as they became the franchise with the longest active playoff drought in all of professional sports in the US, consisting of 16 campaigns without making a single appearance in the postseason.
Sacramento hadn’t made the playoffs since 2006, when they made it as the 8th seed, only to lose to the Spurs in 6 games. Now, as the team headed into the ’22-23 season, Sacramento had finally managed to put together a solid mix of veterans and promising young talent. Still, even with the ostensible right mix of talent, potential and experience, the kings also needed some players with playoff and even finals experience on their squad.
They already had Harrison Barnes, who’d won a ring while with the warriors in 2015, but they needed more pieces. So, in July 2022, Sacramento signed Matthew Dellavedova to a 1 year contract for the veteran minimum. At the time, Dellavedova had played 8 seasons in the NBA, with his best years being in Cleveland, between 2013 and 2016.
Since his time in Cleveland, Dellavedova had played sparingly in the league. He was now in his early 30s, and his career - at least in the NBA - looked like it was over. Then he got the call from Sacramento. Despite never filling up the stat sheet, even when he was in his prime, Dellavedova was known for his suffocating defense and tenacious style of play. So, the Kings wanted to use him as both an additional backup point guard and for his years of NBA experience, including the playoffs and finals, especially because the defending champions were the warriors thanks to there star player, who was named the 2022 playoffs and finals MVP, Steph Curry.
As fanciful as it seemed, given their recent history, the kings were aiming to go all the way for the ’22-23 season, which would mean that, assuming all went to plan, they’d probably have to face the warriors at some point in the post season. And who better to have on your side than Dellavedova, the man who was once dubbed “the curry stopper”.
MUSIC:
“Get the Guy With the Stash”
by TeknoAXE
/ teknoaxe
teknoaxe.com

[@MrRodzilla]

dellavedova stopped curry in games 2 and 3, for the rest of the series the cavs and delly were fatigued which led to some front runner curry meaningless points and padded free throws late in games, also curry scored most of his points when delly was on bench
next few opportunities delly had to stop curry he indeed stopped curry, christmas game 2015 delly chased him off the 3pt line, curry scored 19pts on 6/15 shooting (1/4 from 3), 1st game for the bucks curry could only shoot 1 from 11 3pts against delly

[@dylanbenjaminwalter2896]

Not everyone can have talent but that level of grit and determination can achieve great things. That's why the fans loved him.

[@tpsam]

Curry still remembers della Vedova name

[@TheDuckie78]

As an Aussie I approve of this video.

[@metalbowser23]

Yep same here

[@collinhaas6137]

Trying to guard someone in basketball that's played American or Aussiefootball is brutal lol

[@nerome619]

HUGE number of players had talent but little effort and less determination

[@thedreflacko]

Steph Kari

[@tyronesamuelsjr1087]

He was Grayson Allen....before Grayson Allen

[@WhereOnEarthIsWally]

the church of delly thanks you

[@itay6262]

That's so random, I love it

[@jfr45er]

Straya 🇦🇺🇦🇺

[@lonestarlangley]

Great content as always

[@elfmastercool4734]

Delly!!!!!

[@thefreshmancollectivepodca9983]

We in 2023 u said 2021