His name is Damion Lee and no, he will not be taking any more questions about his Curry family
His name is Damion Lee. He’s married to Sydel Curry. His brother-in-law is superstar and teammate Stephen Curry.
And he’d really like to stop talking about the latter two aspects of his life, rather focusing on the former.
Lee is entering his third season of NBA time and his second with the Golden State Warriors, which has meant most of the questions he’s faced are about playing with his famous brother-in-law. After practice on Thursday, Lee, who turns 27 in a matter of days, laid out how he’d like things to go this year.
“At the end of the day my name is Damion Lee. It doesn’t matter who I’m married to.”
“I want people to respect that for me. I work hard for this sh-t.”
Damion Lee wants people to put some respect on his name 🔥🙌 pic.twitter.com/ZIrnP42Psh— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) October 3, 2019
Lee was forceful, but never rude, in his comments and is rightfully proud of his path.
“At the end of the day, my name is Damion Lee. It doesn't matter who I'm married to. I played basketball before I've been married to who I am [married to].
"I want people to respect that. I work hard for this s—. At the end of the day, I've battled. I've battled. I'm battle-tested. Going through a broken hand, two ACLs.
"I've gone through a lot of s— during my career to get me to this point. And I don't want anyone in the media to disrespect me, disrespect my family, disrespect the front office here in Golden State for believing in me, for knowing my abilities."
Lee’s journey has taken many turns. After a four-year career at Drexel, during which time he briefly met Sydel, he played a year at Louisville, but sanctions kept the Cardinals from the NCAA Tournament. He went undrafted, was signed and then waived by the Boston Celtics and spent a season in the G League. When he tore his left ACL with the Maine Red Claws, years after injuring his right ACL, he asked to be traded to Santa Cruz, the Warriors G League squad, to be closer to his girlfriend.
He had two 10-day contracts with the Atlanta Hawks in 2017-18, married Sydel in September 2018 and played for the Warriors on a two-way contract. Per the San Francisco Chronicle, the organization began scouting him in his Drexel days. He’ll play on another two-way contract this season.
Seth Curry, Stephen’s younger brother, also went undrafted and played in the G League, including with the Santa Cruz Warriors. Unlike Seth, who is currently in Portland, Lee was faced with the constant Curry questions since his famous brother-in-law was seats away form him on the same bench.
It’s an easy, and interesting, narrative in Year 1. But with Year 2 around the corner and the Warriors filling some large shoes, Lee is finished with it.
"I just want to lay that out on the line right now that going forward this year, there's no family questions. When I'm here in between the lines — my 9-to-5, this is my job — I'm thankful, I'm blessed, I'm healthy, I love my family.
"Everyone knows that I don't have any beef with the media, I can answer any question, but at the end of the day there’s no family [questions], there's nothing of that sort because I worked hard to get to the spot that I am."
Damion Lee, that seems fair enough.
More from Yahoo Sports:
