RECIPE FOR HOBBY HEAT

Preheat with NBA pedigree and stay lean

Season twice with a bit of March Madness magic

Turn pro and offer a taste by breaking the rookie

3-point record

Simmer for a few years

Set the league on fire

Poll the crowd, scroll the comments and scan the awards season headlines: complete and total agreement just isn’t a thing in this rated-and-reviewed world. Taste is relative, collectibility is subjective, and even the finest chef’s kiss is sure to sail over someone’s head.

Then again, “Chef Curry” doesn’t miss — not when records are on the menu.

For a Steph-driven masterclass, look no further than the 2015-16 season when Curry cooked the record books to unfathomable degrees. While leading the Warriors to an all-time 73-win season, he became the first 50-40-90 club member to average 30+ points per game and reset the 3-point record (his own) to a splash-happy threshold of 402.

But perhaps the most impressive feat of that year was aligning the MVP ballot-carrying media on that ever-polarizing topic of most-valuable. MJ never did it. LeBron and Shaq finished one vote shy. Steph Curry wowed a room of 131 critics and remains the only unanimous MVP in NBA history. Maybe it boils down to a level of likability so extreme that it overpowers allegiances, preconceptions, and the zagging tendencies of that one last naysayer.

In the Hobby, his approval rating stays hot. Throw it all together: four rings, dynasty success, career longevity, game-changing range, and Golden State color-match flair for good measure. Don’t forget the records — he’s a threat to break one on any given night (probably his own). Add up every Curry-induced “BANG!” yelled in break rooms and Mike Breen telecasts — he probably owns that number too.

Must be fun to be a Curry guy, thought every collector ever.

Ryan Channels is one of those guys, as well as the co-founder of Sonoma’s newest card shop, California Roadshow. “I can’t wait to see what the Curry community brings through these doors. We’re living the dream. We experienced his rise to stardom and now get to build our collections as he builds his legacy.”

Give them credit: there were some lean years to start, both on the court and in the Hobby. In fact, when honing a collection around “Mr. Unanimous,” the only potential flashpoint is his rookie card catalog. The class of 2009 debuted in a product blind spot: too late for NBA-licensed Upper Deck cards, too early for Panini’s Prizm era, and just in time to catch Topps with a foot out the door. The company released just two products in its final licensed season (down from nine the year prior).

Stack those first Curry rookies next to LeBron’s Exquisite era in ‘03 or

Luka’s Panini magic from ‘18, and it’s not out of the question to see more famine than feast. The 2011 NBA lockout didn’t help the cause with only five major product releases.

Is Curry’s flagship Topps card iconic? No doubt. But for the greatest shooter of all time, is the design a bit heavy on “baby-faced” and light on “assassin”? That’s certainly debatable among top collectors. Personally, Channels digs the white space. “I’ve always loved the Topps t-shirt card, but I’m also a huge fan of getting cards signed, and the white tee is a perfect canvas for in-person ink.”

It’s not for the palate of fellow Curry guy Zach Garrett (@holygrailsportscards), but he found it liberating. “His rookies just don’t do it for me — especially the Topps and Bowman cards — so I made the decision early on to focus on his non-rookie stuff. I feel like it freed me up to build a collection with range and diversity in design.”

Channels initially had the opposite goal of landing every Curry rookie card, but has since traded a few away in the name of savoring more recent moments. “Sometimes the story can be more important to me than the card itself. It’s so much more rewarding to have a memory attached.”

It’s safe to say Curry keeps his collectors’ plates full of those.