Sonya Curry: Ex-Hornets Owner George Shinn Warned Team of Interracial Marriage

Sonya Curry, the mother of NBA guards Seth and Stephen Curry, said former Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn mistakenly believed she was white and used her relationship with Hornets legend Dell Curry to discourage interracial marriage by other members of the organization. 

On Monday, Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated provided comments from the Curry matriarch about learning of Shinn's alleged racist remarks in 1988:

"The owner called in another player, a white guy player who dated black women, and said, 'We drafted you. We know who you like to date. But we just want to tell you to really be careful about letting people see because Dell Curry is married to a white woman and we don't know how people are going to take them either.' The player was like, 'You are not going to believe what they just said.' I was like, 'What?' Just the assumption of what I look like and all that."

Sonya Curry noted she's shared her experiences growing up in Radford, Virginia, with her children, including daughter Sydel, as a way to give them a better understanding of racism, which she didn't want to get lost because the kids were fortunate enough to grow up in a wealthy family.

"I wanted them to understand that in their world that could be seen as sheltered they needed to hear stories," Sonya Curry told Spears.

The Curry family helped headline All-Star Weekend in Charlotte and Sonya even enjoyed a moment in the NBA spotlight with her half-court shot during a shooting contest:

Shinn moved the Hornets to New Orleans in 2002. He sold the franchise in 2010 and the team was renamed the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013.

The NBA returned to Charlotte in 2004 with the Bobcats before getting rebranded back to the Hornets in 2014 after New Orleans vacated the nickname.