Curry he modeled his game after Steve Nash and Reggie Miller. He recalled three distinct moments he has of Kobe Bryant – each from an entirely different experience on the court.

Credit Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/AFP – Scanpix

Of his 14-year NBA career, Stephen Curry played the first seven seasons while Kobe Bryant was still in the league. At the time, Bryant was a living legend. Now, Curry is the one kids model their game after.

The Golden State Warriors superstar guard recently appeared on the famous Hot Ones show where various celebrities eat chicken wings with extremely hot sauces while talking about their life and their career.

Asked to name the players he modeled his own game after, Curry named two NBA legends.

“The model was Steve Nash and Reggie Miller,” he said. “Reggie because he was a master at creating space without the ball, finding a way to get separation and go out, get a pass, and quick-release. I could never emulate his form. I was trying to blend those two guys together.”

Surprisingly, Curry told a story about how he and his brother Seth, who’s an NBA player as well, picked up on a shooting routine from one of the big men of the league.

“There was a guy Alonzo Morning. He had this really methodical free-throw routine that me and my brother would really emulate, and we did it when we were playing at AAU,” Steph started telling the story.

“He’d have a wristband and he’d do a methodical wiping of the sweat, he’d get locked in, and he’d do another bounce and another bounce, and he’d do it again, and he’d shoot the free throw. I don’t know why but we loved that iconic free-throw routine because it was very big-man of him,” Curry smiled. “We were little guards and it was kind of out of pocket for us.”

Throughout his career, Curry has earned himself a series of nicknames. One of the first ones to catch on was the one he was given by the late Kobe Bryant – the Baby-Faced Assassin.

“That is one of my favorite memories and compliments I’ve ever gotten in my life,” the player said on the show. “It was three different interactions. One I didn’t know about until way after the fact.”

The first story had to do with Bryant recognizing Curry’s game when he was still a young up-and-coming guard.

“It was my rookie year and we were playing the Lakers at home, and he’s on the bench. I think we were getting beat at the time. I come down the court and do this little pump fake situation, hit a leaner off the glass,” Curry began.

“As I’m running down the court, the camera locks in on him for some reason, and he points to or leans to the guy sitting next to him – one of his teammates – and kind of mouths ‘He’s nice’. That’s the dopest thing in the world – Kobe validating your game, and he’s just seeing you play for the first time. That’s freaking amazing,” the sharpshooter said.

The second situation involved Curry playing one-on-one against Bryant in a preseason game.

“The second time we were playing in a preseason game. He’s doing that Mamba Mentality thing when he’s picking me up full-court in a preseason game in the first quarter. You turn around and he’s standing there, doing defensive slides, staying in front of me,” Curry recalled. “‘What is happening? It’s freaking Kobe Bryant.’ So he stays with me for four or five slides and he bumps me, and I kind of fall off balance.”

“I’m actually gassed at this point, I’m tired. You’re trying to get in shape in a preseason game and he’s just going all out on the defensive pressure, he’s way bigger and stronger than me, and bumping, and doing all that. After I fall, I got no other option – I’m just gonna shoot it and live with it. I shot from probably 30 feet and I made it, and I act like nothing happened,” the guard remembered with a smile.

“It was the biggest ‘keep your cool’ moment in your life. It’s freaking Kobe, you’re trying to be super chill about it, and I just drained from 30 feet on him after he picked me up. He gave me a little ass tap on the way back, and I couldn’t even acknowledge that either, I kind of just knocked him off and was acting like I was playing on defense. I went back right in at halftime and I was like ‘I need that clip’,” Curry laughed.

Curry revealed that he feels tremendous gratitude that Kobe recognized him as a serious player in the league and gave him the Baby-Faced Assassin nickname.

“The third time is what you’re referring to in terms of him breaking down the killer instinct, that I just hide it behind the smile,” he said to host Sean Evans. “There are guys like he was that have the scowl and the game face, and that killer mentality. He didn’t have to say anything, you could see it.”

“The joy that I played with and the smile that I have, you get to see it by just the killer instinct that I have underneath and the competitive spirit that I have. For somebody to validate you like that, especially when he’s not giving compliments like that, that was truly special for sure,” Curry concluded.