LeBron James and Stephen Curry have pretty much owned the NBA over the past decade. To call it a modern-day Magic-Bird rivalry isn't without merit. We're talking about two of the greatest players to ever play, who have gone head-to-head not only for championships, but also for the unofficial title of world's greatest player.
Has a truly heated, personal rivalry developed? According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst -- who has covered LeBron first-hand for 20 years, dating back to his high school days -- yes, the rivalry is old-school real, and no, these two likely won't be vacationing together anytime soon.
Here's a transcript from a recent conversation between Windhorst and The Ringer's Bill Simmons on Simmons' "The Book of Basketball 2.0" podcast:
Simmons: "We know this -- I'm not sure the average human being knows this -- but the LeBron/Curry thing is pretty real."
Windhorst: "Oh yeah."
Simmons: "It is not friendly. I think LeBron really has genuine disdain for him. And I think Curry's kind of like, 'F*** you, I've won as many titles as you have.' And you could feel it festering in the 2016 [Finals] because there's this underlying current of LeBron has gone back to Cleveland, the King is back, and then Curry comes in and kind of grabs the crown a little bit. And more importantly I think to LeBron ... [Curry] became really popular."
Windhorst: "I don't know if the word jealous is fair because I don't think LeBron's jealous of anybody, but he didn't think it was fair. He was like, 'What about me?' LeBron was like, if I had delivered some of the eggs that [Curry's] delivered in the Finals games over the years, I would be getting skewered. And he gets away with it."
I'm all for this rivalry. I think anyone who grew up with basketball in the 80s and 90s would like a little more heat between the players rather than seeing them all as best friends. It's true, you can be friends off the court and flip a competitive switch once the ball goes up, but still, to have two of the best players in the world with a genuine chip on their shoulder toward the other is great for entertainment.
You can also understand LeBron's point. He was -- and probably still is -- the best player in the world for years, even decades, and Curry came along pretty much out of nowhere to be anointed on a global scale as the face of the game. Curry earned that, becoming the first unanimous MVP in NBA history while leading the Warriors to a 73-win season and three championships, all against LeBron's Cavaliers.
But as Simmons and Windhorst also talked about, LeBron doesn't think even those three Warriors titles are without qualification. The last two Kevin Durant was around, and the first one, in 2015, LeBron -- again, in the opinion of Windhorst -- doesn't think is truly legitimate given that the Cavs had to play the whole series without Kevin Love and all but one game without Kyrie Irving.
This is a fair beef, but Curry still won, and that irks LeBron. Terrific. This can be nothing but great for the game.
That said, make no mistake who the better player is, and has been, and always will be. It's LeBron. I spent the first two months of this season talking to 20-plus people from around the league asking them who was the player of the decade, James or Curry? Not a single person chose Curry.
Said Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins: "Oh man, that's a tough one. I think you have to go with LeBron. Eight straight Finals, and he did it for longer than Curry. It's close, but to me, LeBron did it for longer. Simple as that."
Said a prominent media member: "It's LeBron, man. You go to eight straight Finals, I don't give a damn about anything else."
Said an Eastern Conference scout: "I would say LeBron. I'm a big supporter of Steph, but I just think what LeBron does as an all-around player. He was so good at the beginning of the decade, already one of the greatest ever, really. And when you think about it, he's actually gotten better as the years went on, even now into, what, his 17th season? He's become a better 3-point shooter. You just look at him as a passer, as a scorer, as a guy who can defend any position. Curry has been unbelievable, don't get me wrong. He changed the game, no question. But I still give the edge to LeBron."
I have to admit, I was genuinely surprised by this -- not that a lot of people I asked chose LeBron, but that every single one of the 20-plus people I asked chose LeBron. Everyone prefaced their answer by saying what a tough question it was, but in the end, not one person picked Curry -- who obviously had an all-time five-year run highlighted by a record-breaking 73-win season, a scoring title, three championships and two MVPs, including one by the only unanimous vote in history.
The unanimous voting in this poll says a lot, both about the unending, and obviously deserved, respect that people in the league have for LeBron, and also about the reluctance that still exists to put Curry alongside the greatest players ever.
"I think there is some of that," one Western Conference exec said. "I think we're still just kind of getting used to basketball in the Curry era, you know with all the 3s and running and gunning. The way LeBron dominates, that's still more familiar. That's not taking anything away from either of them."
So who would you take?
"LeBron," the exec laughed. "He's the best player I've ever seen."
An Eastern Conference GM added, "It's certainly between those two. From a pure individual standpoint, historically I think LeBron is going to go down as the best player of this decade. I think Steph's association with the Warriors and the success they had makes it a fair question who will be remembered more, but that's probably a different question. Individually, LeBron would be my pick."
In terms of championships, both LeBron and Curry won three. Personally, I would argue Curry's 2015-16 unanimous MVP season when he hit 402 3-pointers was a higher peak than LeBron ever reached, although 2012-13 LeBron was pretty ridiculous. A lot of people I talked to agreed with Curry having a higher single-season peak. But -- and this is a significant but -- LeBron beat Curry in the Finals that season, foiling Golden State's 73-win record.
That 2016 title probably swings the vote for LeBron. If the Warriors win that title and finish off the 73-win season, it would be pretty tough to go against Curry, who would then have four championships to LeBron's two during the decade. But LeBron coming back to win that title, down 3-1 to maybe the best team of all time, ending the drought in Cleveland, just the whole thing. That's the stuff out of movies. Every championship is special, but that one was magical. Breathtaking.
As far as the eight straight Finals appearances for LeBron, that's crazy, no question. It also highlights that James was significantly ahead of Curry based on the first four seasons of the decade, in terms of individual and team success. But conference imbalance has to be considered. Given the West's appreciable superiority over the East during this decade, especially during the last half, Curry's five straight Finals appearances, in my mind, are the equivalent of LeBron's eight straight in the East. Factor in three titles for each of them, and from a pure winning-at-the-highest-level standpoint, it's a wash.
After that, LeBron wins pretty much every head-to-head category:
- League MVPs: LeBron 4, Curry 2
- Finals MVPs: LeBron 3, Curry 0
- All-Star appearances: LeBron 9, Curry 6
- First-team All-NBA selections: LeBron 9, Curry 3
- Scoring titles: Curry 1, LeBron 0
Indeed, LeBron has been the better player for longer. Curry's influence on the game, at all levels, is a real factor, but the simple truth is that LeBron has a strong case as the greatest player to ever live and the bulk of that case was built during this past decade. So he wins by a margin about as slim as those 2016 Finals.
