Stephen Curry shares the court with a singing robot. Image via: Getty Images
The moment did not take long to spread on social feeds, but it was only the opening act of Curry’s stop at Tsinghua University High School on September 10. He had come to teach, not perform, kicking off a 2026 China tour built around a new partnership between his own brand and the Chinese sportswear company Li-Ning. The real point of the trip was the more than 200 students who showed up for what organizers called their first physical education class of the new school year, and Curry made sure the day stayed about them.
This was the first stop on his China tour, arranged after Curry Brand announced its long-term partnership with Li-Ning.
Join conversation Share your thoughts in the comments Be respectful · TOI community guidelines “Height, talent and background are not limitations,” he told them. A robot beat Stephen Curry to the punchline this week, strolling into a Beijing gym singing before anyone even mentioned basketball. The Warriors legend watched, half stunned and half laughing, as the machine rolled toward the court, picked up a ball and started draining shots right next to him. The robot entered singing while Stephen Curry was getting inside the arena. It raised the ball and started shooting alongside the NBA ‘s career leader in three-pointers, and the gym full of students erupted as an unscripted contest between basketball and technology broke out in front of them. Curry never treated it like a real showdown. He studied the machine’s motion, let it take its shots, and allowed it to have a few minutes in the spotlight. For that stretch, the greatest shooter of his generation was happy to share the stage with something that could sing before it could shoot. The robot was the appetizer. Instead of opening the trip with a product launch, Curry picked a school gym full of kids still figuring out whether they’re good enough to keep playing. Passion and years of grinding, he added, are what actually decide how far someone goes. Curry spent his early NBA years answering doubts about his size and strength, then spent the next decade rewriting how the game gets played.
One moment captured just how far that message has traveled. Li Ruoxin, now a girls’ basketball coach at the school, watched Curry from the stands as a student ten years ago. This time she stood on the court beside him, on the other side of the same dream. The visit landed on Teachers’ Day in China, and Curry used it to recognize the school’s basketball staff before officials named him an honorary basketball advisor. Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.