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NBA All-Star Reveals Symptom That Led to Shock Diagnosis

The 38-year-old basketball legend opened up about the eye condition he played through for years.

Stephen Curry has revealed that he won two NBA championships despite unknowingly struggling with a serious eye condition.

The Golden State Warriors star, 38, revealed in an interview with People on Wednesday that he spent years playing at the highest level of basketball with keratoconus, a progressive eye condition that can distort vision.

Curry said that by 2018, blurred vision and distorted images had become so normal that he didn’t realize anything was wrong.

By then, Curry had already led the Warriors to championships in 2015 and 2017 and was on his way to a third title. The problem was finally spotted from the sidelines—or rather, from a television screen.

Bob Myers, then the general manager of the Warriors, was watching Curry during a road game broadcast when cameras repeatedly caught the superstar squinting on the bench.

“Have you gotten your eyes checked? You should probably go do that because that wasn’t normal,” Curry recalled Myers texting him after the game.

Curry expected a routine appointment. Instead, an optometrist diagnosed him with keratoconus.

The condition causes the normally dome-shaped cornea to thin and bulge outward into a cone shape, according to the Mayo Clinic. That change can cause blurry or distorted vision, sensitivity to light and glare, and frequent changes in glasses prescriptions.

Keratoconus often begins in the late teens through the 30s and can worsen gradually over years. In earlier stages, glasses or contact lenses may help correct the resulting vision problems. If the disease is progressing, a procedure called corneal cross-linking can slow or stop further changes to the cornea.

Curry said the diagnosis suddenly explained what he had been compensating for on the court.

“I joke that when I’m all done, my memoir should be called The Whole Time I Couldn’t See,” he told People.

Getting used to corrective contacts, however, was not immediate. Curry admitted he was stubborn at first because he had already trained himself to perform through the blurry haze. Finding contacts with the right prescription—and a fit stable enough to stay put while he sprinted, cut, and shot—took time.

Eight years later, Curry says putting them in has become second nature, and he now gets his eyes checked every six months. He said managing the condition has given him peace of mind and helped his performance, not because it magically improved his famous jump shot, but because he no longer has to spend extra energy trying to make sense of what he is seeing.

Now Curry is turning his experience into an eye-health campaign.

Glaukos, an ophthalmic pharmaceutical and medical technology company, announced Wednesday that it partnered with the four-time NBA champion on “Could it be KC?,” an awareness campaign aimed at encouraging earlier recognition and diagnosis of keratoconus.

“For a long time, I got used to just getting by, squinting and brushing off headaches,” Curry said in the campaign announcement.

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As part of the campaign, he will share his experience with keratoconus and participate in an educational event with students in Oakland, California.

Glaukos also created a picture book inspired by his story, which Curry is expected to read to students before joining them for a pickup basketball game. The campaign is especially focused on children and young people, because keratoconus can progress more quickly in younger patients.

He also urged anyone noticing possible symptoms to get an eye exam and talk with an eye doctor.

“Vision is one of the biggest privileges we have, and I don’t want anyone to lose sight of what matters” he said. “My hope is that this campaign helps other individuals and families feel seen and encourages them to prioritize their eye health.”

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Tamilore OshikanluContributor

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