Stephen Curry responded to Los Angeles Lakers fan favorite Quincy Olivari‘s Instagram post about his fandom of the Golden State Warriors superstar.
“Pleasure bro,” Curry commented on the post. “Appreciate you [for] being a real one and letting me know the history!!”
Olivari got emotional during his postgame interview after Curry acknowledged and hugged him following his 22-point game in the Lakers’ 132-74 loss to the Warriors on October 18 at Chase Center.
“It’s crazy because that’s my favorite player ever,” Olivari told reporters. “The first thing he told me was, ‘I’m a big fan of your game,’ and truth be told, I’m a big fan of him. I had his jersey. He signed it twice. I used to sleep under that jersey. I used to want to be like him so badly.”
Quincy Olivari: ‘Dreams Do Come True’
Olivari captioned his Instagram post about his Curry’s fandom, “Dreams do come true.”
Indeed.
With Curry watching from the sidelines, Olivari made quite an impression in his first NBA start in the Lakers’ preseason finale.
The 6-foot-3 Lakers training camp invitee knocked down 5 of 9 3-pointers and shot 8 of 16 overall. He added seven rebounds and two assists in 39 minutes as the Lakers rested their top seven players.
“I just want a job in the NBA,” Olivari told reporters after his impressive performance, “like it’s the only thing I’ve wanted since I was like 5 years old and my dad always said my biggest gift is my energy and energy can never be created or destroyed, only transferred so I bring energy to whatever team wants me and I lift every group up.”
“I honestly don’t know what comes next either. Every day, I just approach it like it could be my last and Rui [Hachimura] hit it on the head today, [saying] this is like the the last chance for people like me because tomorrow’s not promised and neither is next week but what is guaranteed is I have an opportunity today to go out and make a lasting impression.”
The following morning, another of his dream came true as the Lakers signed him to a two-way contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin reported.
Quincy Olivari Shows Lakers Blueprint
“God, thank you so much #41,” Olivari posted on X, quoting the report about his new deal.
Olivari has impressed the Lakers, who waived center Colin Castleton to make a spot for him.
It was Olivari’s second big game in the preseason following his fourth-quarter heroics in the Lakers’ 107-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on October 10.
Lakers coach JJ Redick commended Olivari after the Bucks game and declared the undrafted rookie showed the blueprint of how he wanted his players to play.
“Quincy just completely changed the game,” Redick told reporters afterward. “And to me, and I told our guys this after, what he did is the blueprint for what we’re asking for a few of our players in terms of just picking up full court, being disruptive, taking time off the shot clock.”
“I thought he just executed exactly what we want from someone in his position. And we’ve challenged a number of guys, and they’ve done it well to varying degrees but haven’t seen it executed that well until tonight with Quincy.”
The undrafted rookie out of Xavier scored 11 points and added five rebounds with two assists and without a single turnover in 10 minutes, all in the fourth quarter. But it was his tenacious defense that stood out the most to Redick.
“So he’s got a background running cross country, so he’s in unbelievable shape at all times,” Redick said of Olivari.
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