If you thought fines were only meant for professional leagues, you might want to have a talk with Sonya Curry. The mother of three had exceptionally creative ideas to keep her highly competitive kids in line. Stephen Curry is well aware of his mother’s ways having been disciplined just before his first middle school game. So it’s no wonder that the Warriors star was constantly challenged and with lighter pockets, thanks to his mum.

Many of you might be aware of Sonya’s bet with her son about paying her fines – which she accepts in the form of handbags, shoes, etc. – for excessive turnovers. That has been a major talking point of Steph’s career since his entry into the NBA. It continues to this day, and he’s had his good and bad days. And bad days are good for Sonya because Mama Curry’s closet gets an upgrade! But how did this tradition come to be? Let’s first the origin story.

The origin story of Steph’s turnover payments to Mama Curry

In July, Dell Curry joined Sonya Curry and Lucille O’Neal for an episode of Raising Fame. The trio discussed Steph Curry’s early years and how he was picked by Davidson College in North Carolina and Sonya mentioned his son’s turnovers in his first game. This prompted Lucille to ask Sonya if it is true that the 4-time NBA Champion has to pay her for excessive turnovers.

Sonya said, “Yes he did,” before mentioning “We stopped that now because he brought his turnover percentage down.” Sonya then added, “This year I threatened to fine him for missed dunks. I was like ‘if you try that one more time,’ it’s driving me crazy.” Lucille O’Neal then proceeded to ask how the turnover fine thing originated.

“I don’t know. But it was like one game,” the 58-year-old said. “I was like, ‘Dude, just stop… it is not even fun watching. I’m just waiting for you to do something silly.’ And we know that he always does that when he gets tired. Or bored, because he’ll start trying to figure up things even on that level. Like, ‘How could I challenge myself?’.” Sonya came up with the idea of fining his son for turnovers after growing frustrated watching him lose the ball often. Thus she sent a benchmark, that if Curry concedes over three turnovers per game, he would have to pay a fine of $100k to his mother.

And at the end of a season, Sonya would cash in – letting her son know which fashion items she’s had her eye on or obviously added to her cart. The best season in that respect would be 2013-14 when Stephen Curry committed the most turnovers in his career – 294! During the conversation, Dell Curry, Steph’s father and former NBA player also shared his take on the turnover fines.

“I think the turnovers are because when he was in high school, we really were strict about making both our boys play the right way,” the former Hornets star said. “And I remember a game he was in middle school- he drove to the hole and he went up to shoot. Guy was gonna block his shot, and he went under the basket back to the basket, flipped it up over his head and it went in and it looked like one of those hot dog shots.”

“And he immediately looked at us and went, ‘I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry’… Once he got released to be able to do little hotdog plays in the NBA, he took it overboard,” Curry Sr. said, laughing. $100k for every game, where he gave away more than 3 turnovers may sound a little harsh, given he didn’t earn much in his early years, but it did work for him.

Steph had a turnover percentage of 16.6 in his rookie season in 2009/10. This didn’t improve as he posted percentages of 16.5 and 17.1 in the next two seasons. However, once her mother decided enough was enough, Steph’s turnover game improved. The 2012/13 season saw him go down to 13.8%, before another hike in the percentage in the next season. But over the years, Steph was able to trim down the percentage of turnovers, registering 11.7% in 2018/19 and last season he had another great effort with a turnover percentage of 11.8. No wonder, Sonya Curry had to stop the practice, seeing his son’s improvement.

While we are not exactly sure how much the 4x champion lost in fines to his mom, we do have a pretty neat idea about how much the NBA levied from Stephen Curry.

In his 15 seasons in the league, the 2x MVP lost $227,000 in fines. The most Curry had to pay was $50,000 for throwing his mouthpiece into the crowd during a Warriors vs Grizzlies matchup in late October 2017.

While he might not be in the same rank as Draymond Green or Rasheed Wallace in NBA fines, he surely is a veteran in his own right when it comes to ‘just’ fines. After all, he did have to answer to the commissioner of the Curry household! This idea of being disciplined in sport or life was inculcated in Curry from an early age, as he once recalled.

Steph Curry had to miss first middle school game after his mother disciplined him

Back in 2013, Steph Curry revealed how he grew up in a household where sport was a big part but not the priority. For them, faith, family, and academics took priority followed by everything else. The 2022 NBA Finals MVP mentioned how his mother didn’t allow him to play in his first middle school game because he didn’t do the dishes the night before.

“Plenty of times I was disciplined for not taking care of things in the classroom or around the house, and the punishment was that I couldn’t practice or play,” Curry told SF Gate. Well, it seems all these years of inculcating strict routines and adhering to certain rules have helped Stephen Curry a lot.

The Warriors icon has often credited his mother for helping her in a lot of ways, even if it involved paying from his own pocket for his on-court mistakes.