One clip of the NBA icon that went viral on Monday, appearing to show him reaching almost superhuman levels of accuracy and power with a series of court-length shots launched one after the other.

So was this a spectacular feat of human ability, or just VFX wizardry?

The Claim

A tweet posted by Sports Illustrated on December 5, 2022, appears to show Curry making five full-court shots in a row.

The clip, which has received more than 144,000 engagements in less than 24 hours, included the caption “Just finished a shoot with@stephencurry30, this dude just can’t miss 😳🔥”

The Facts

Curry’s record-breaking career with the Warriors has led some to believe that the video posted on Twitter was genuine.

Already holding the record for half-court shots, just one of his many remarkable achievements, Curry making the court-long shots seemed, at the least, conceivable.

However, digging a little deeper, it seems the footage of his five-in-a-row full-court shots was little more than the result of visual trickery.

The video was edited by Ari Fararooy, a skilled filmmaker who has made other illusory sports promos before.

In October, Fararooy posted a video of Tom Brady and former teammate Julian Edelman “practicing” trick shots together, as part of an NFL promotional film.

While that video was clearly edited, with doubles of Edelman used throughout the shoot, the Curry video is far more deceptive. The ball is thrown at a great distance, which helps to disguise post-production artifice, while Curry disappears from each frame after his throw (which might be to hide wherever the ball was actually launched).

It seems the video might have been meant as a tongue-in-cheek joke or PR stunt, reflecting Curry’s intimidating record and NBA status.

The Warriors helped to spread the myth, however, retweeting the film with the caption “Steph Gonna STEPH 🤯”

Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for the film to be debunked after AP sports writer Janie McCauley (who reports on the Golden State Warriors) tweeted that the Warriors confirmed the video was fake.

The video might also be an allusion to a 2003 Powerade commercial, where LeBron James was depicted making five full-court shots as well.

Fararooy later posted a video showing Curry from another angle, to suggest that his shots were indeed real.

However, Curry later confirmed during a press conference that the video was edited, although he claimed to have made two of the court-length shots.

Newsweek reached out to Sports Illustrated, Ari Fararooy and the Golden State Warriors for comment.

Update 12/06/22, 04:58 a.m. ET: This article was update to include additional commentary.

The Ruling

Misleading Material.

While few can approach Stephen Curry’s record and skill, the video shared on Twitter was edited by filmmaker Ari Fararooy.

Fararooy is video director who has made similarly deceptive edits for other sports legends, and appears to have again used clever tricks of perspective and framing to help achieve the shot.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team