Stephen Curry on Winning Ring No. 5: ‘Honestly, it’s all I’m really playing for right now’

Winning is addictive.

For the ultra-competitive players like Stephen Curry, once you get a taste of it, this is why you keep playing the game. Winning a fifth NBA ring is what keeps him going, he said to Monte Poole and Dalton Johnson on NBC Sports’ Bay Area’s “Dubs Talk.”

“Honestly, it’s the only thing I’m really playing for right now. It’s the only thing that matters in terms of satisfaction…

“I still enjoy playing the game. I still enjoy going to work every day. Basketball is still fun for me. I still enjoy the challenge of trying to win every night.”

Curry’s comments echo those of LeBron James, who came home with a gold medal at the Paris Olympics and talked about how winning set him on fire.

“It felt damn good, it felt great, to play meaningful basketball, to play for the highest level…” LeBron said of Paris at Lakers Media Day. “That fire and desire was brought back to me.”

Both Curry’s Warriors (10-3) and LeBron’s Lakers (10-4) are off to a fast start, though both players and teams face questions about sustainability: Can these older teams play at this level in April and May? And ideally June?

To prove that they can play at that level again, and to get that feeling again, LeBron and Curry are still going at it as hard as they are. Winning is so addictive.