Warriors' Steph Curry has high praise for teammate, former Memphis Tigers' Lester Quinones
Lester Quinones was playing for the opposing team, but he had plenty of people cheering for him at FedExForum on Friday night.
Quinones, who played with the Memphis Tigers from 2019 to 2022, scored a career-high 10 points in the Warriors 121-101 win over the Grizzlies on Friday night. And his performance earned him postgame praise from teammate Steph Curry.
"He's fearless out there," Curry told the Commercial Appeal. "He's got great energy. It's just a matter of understanding where his opportunities are going to come. Tonight he was ready, and he made some big plays for us. Now it's just about consistency if he can be out there."
Quinones entered the 2022 NBA Draft but was not taken. He started his professional career with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the G League before signing a two-way contract with the Golden State Warriors.
He has played sparingly this season, appearing in 11 games. He played 19 minutes Friday night and had six rebounds. He also entered the game at the same time as Grizzlies guard and Tigers favorite Derrick Rose, giving Memphis fans in attendance a chance to cheer for players on both teams.
"It was just amazing to be out there, and I'm picking D-Rose up full court, and he's picking me up full court," Quinones said. "It just felt amazing. Of course I grew up watching him. Being out there, and him being a Memphis legend, and actually playing out here in Memphis, everything just felt so comfortable for me today."
Curry said the biggest improvement he has seen from Quinones is the way he has kept things simple and carved out an NBA role for himself.
"It sounds dumb but keeping things simple. It's really hard being a go-to scorer in college and the G League and that's not your role on this level," Curry said. "But just simplifying the game, making the easy play, taking the shots that you're supposed to, being aggressive but playing with some intention, it's hard, but it's a different style. Your ability to impact the game and find more minutes comes from doing that."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Steph Curry has high praise for former Memphis Tigers' Lester Quinones
