Stephen Curry releases documentary about Japanese basketball culture

Stephen Curry might not be active on the basketball court, but he’s still managing to be an ambassador for the game.

Stephen Curry might be conspicuously absent from the Golden State Warriors’ lineup, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t as involved in the game as possible off the court.

According to The Japan Times, Curry recently released a documentary entitled “The Rising: Hoop Origins with Stephen Curry.” The production explores the increasing popularity of the game of basketball in Japan and, although it is “only” about 15 minutes in duration, is quite informative.

Curry, who has risen as one of the faces of the NBA over the past five years, has been on the shelf since suffering a hand fracture in the early goings of the season. Nevertheless, as one of the NBA’s ambassadors, the project was released in an attempt to shine a light on Japan—a country that’s realizing tremendous growth with respect to the game of basketball.

The documentary provides special insight into the inroads made by three teenagers, Noa Gustafson, Junn Broons and Reina Fukuo.

It also happens to be quite educational. Produced in partnership with Under Armour and Rakuten, the Japan Times

The new bilingual documentary, “The Rising: Hoop Origins with Stephen Curry,” which made its global debut last week on his YouTube channel, is a celebration of grassroots basketball in Tokyo…

In the past, this newspaper chronicled Curry’s trips to Japan, providing details on basketball clinics and promotional tours for Under Armour. This documentary, which was produced by Rakuten, gives viewers an inside look at Curry’s June visit to Tokyo during his Underrated Tour stop.

Ed Odeven, the author of the piece for the Times, provides an interesting synopsis of the production and helps to portray Curry as a kind and generous ambassador of the game whose curiosity about Japan’s basketball culture was aided by his interaction with Japanese youths while on a promotional tour.

It’s worth a read, and the documentary itself is certainly worth a look, it’s available for free viewing on YouTube.