Stephen Curry feverishly hopped up and down with a few of his teammates immediately after Golden State defeated Boston in Game 6 to win the 2022 NBA Finals.
One was his Splash bro, Klay Thompson.
Another was his brother-in-law, Damion Lee, who is married to his sister, Sydel.
While his connection with Thompson is well known, Curry also has a closeness with Lee that came shining through in a tweet about his former teammate joining the Phoenix Suns.
“Time to blossom even more my brother. Gonna miss what you brought to the team on & off the court! Suns got a great one. #nowhiteflags.” Curry tweeted earlier this month.
The Suns signed the 29-year-old Lee to a one-year deal on July 5.
Undrafted out of Louisville, Lee had a predraft workout with the Suns in May 2016 when Phoenix was in the middle of a decade playoff drought.
Now he’s joining the franchise with championship aspirations.
While Phoenix is essentially returning the team that won a franchise-record 64 games in earning the No. 1 overall seed in the 2022 NBA playoffs, Lee provides the Suns an athletic and active wing who can play the two or the three, score and defend.
“As the journey continues, I’m excited for this opportunity with the @Suns! #NoWhiteFlags #RingMe.” tweeted Lee on July 5 as he’s a career 35.7% shooter from 3 and connected on 86.8% of his free throws.
The Suns have prided themselves on having depth under head coach Monty Williams.
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The 6-5 Lee provides them with that at the wing position where they have starting small forward Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, who plays the three and four, and Torrey Craig.
Lee averaged 8.1 points in his four seasons in Golden State after starting his NBA career in 2017-18 with the Atlanta Hawks.
He averaged a career-high 12.7 points in 2019-20 as Thompson missed the entire year with knee injury suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals while Curry played only five games.
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Curry went down with a hand injury against Phoenix in Golden State’s fourth game.
The Warriors won just 15 games in having the NBA’s worst record that season, but Lee was one of the team’s bright spots that season. Lee had 11 20-point games topped by a career-best 26, hitting 5-of-7 from 3, in a loss against the Heat.
He averaged 12.3 points in four games against Phoenix.
In Golden State’s two wins over the Suns, Lee posted 16 points, eight rebounds and three steals on Dec. 27, 2019, and dropped 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds in a 16-point victory on Feb. 29, 2020, in Phoenix.
Two seasons later, Lee won his first NBA championship with the Warriors as he averaged 7.4 points in a career-best 63 games in the 2021-22 regular season.
He scored a season-high 22 in a 118-104 victory on March 23 at Miami.
“These last 4 years have been nothing short of amazing! Thank you to the @warriors organization for an unbelievable ride! Love and appreciate y’all more than you’ll ever know!” Lee tweeted on July 5.
These last 4 years have been nothing short of amazing! Thank you to the @warriors organization for an unbelievable ride! Love and appreciate y’all more than you’ll ever know! pic.twitter.com/gRPp2r6NjO
— Damion Lee (@Dami0nLee) July 6, 2022
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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