Is Stephen Curry better than ever?

“At 33,” says his longtime trainer, “he's having a lot of fun.”

BY TOM HABERSTROH

“Man, that poor kid.” After a decade as Stephen Curry’s trainer, Brandon Payne of Accelerate Basketball says this, right now, might be the best Curry has ever played. Which was bad for the Thunder’s 19-year-old French point guard Theo Maledon last Wednesday. From his living room in Fort Mill, South Carolina—a Charlotte suburb—Payne knew Maledon was about to get a lesson, because, he says, Curry’s experience is showing:

• “A lot of guys would rim-cut here, because that's what you know, dribble-at rim-cut. … The kid was trying to take something away, and he just got a little bit too aggressive. And it opened up the entire floor … That really put all four other defenders in a really difficult position.”

• “Eyes to the rim. For a guy who is this good of a shooter like Stephen, just looking at the rim causes this reaction, right? … his eyes alone draw the defense.”

• “[Svi] Mykhailiuk, he’s got his left foot high which means he was trying to force him to the corner. But when you ge…