Eddy Curry came along during the preps-to-pro era of basketball players, inspired by Kevin Garnett. These players, including Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O’Neal, and Tracy McGrady, went straight from high school to the NBA, without playing a year in college. For many players who attempted to go this route, the NBA was too much for 18-year-old kids who had only ever known being able to dominate high school competition.
Eddy Curry, who has been out of the NBA since the 2012-13 season, had a solid 11-year pro career, though he never panned out to be the All-Star that many expected him to be. While visiting Metea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, Curry expressed regret about skipping college. From Suzanne Baker of the Chicago Tribune:
He said his only regret was not attending college and participating in the rites of passage, like living in a dorm, or experiencing the growth and maturity so many NBA players received as college athletes.
“It would be super dope to have a college diploma,” Curry said.
…
“I was a kid coming out of high school, literally,” he said.
“When I was in Chicago, they babied me in Chicago. They really kind of sheltered and kept us kind of concealed and didn’t let us get into a lot of stuff. Then I went to New York and it was total opposite. It was like boom,” he said.
Curry said that college could have given him the business skills to better handle his contracts and money.
Curry, despite being retired, can still be found on a basketball court. He will be playing as a member of the Gotham Ballers team in the Champions Basketball League.
