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As Stephen Curry and LeBron James have been connected throughout their careers, they have been labeled as possibly one of the greatest rivalries in basketball history due to the amount of face-offs in crucial settings. While Curry and James were almost teammates last season, both spoke about the rivalry and their emotions during the countless amount of matchups against one another.
There was a dislike between the two players, but not on a personal level, more so on a competitive level where the two had one goal which was to win a world championship. James would echo the same sentiments to ESPN about how Curry was seen as someone “trying to stop you from reaching your goals.”
“I mean, s—, when you're in a dogfight and there's one guy that's trying to stop you from reaching your goals, you're going to dislike that person,” James said. “He disliked me, I disliked him because we were both fighting for what the f— we wanted, and that's the Larry O'Brien trophy.”
While James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, besides the number of games in the regular season, they met in four straight NBA Finals from 2015-2018 where Curry has the advantage 3-1. However, James arguably had the most impressive win as he led the Cavs along with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.
Stephen Curry on the rivalry with LeBron James
While the rivalry was heated on the court, Curry and James do have a bond off the court, but there is no doubt that the two are ultra-competitive as the friendship was thrown out the window.
“All you think about is just winning,” Curry said. “So, yeah, it was petty. It was competitive. Trash talking. All the above. [But] there's always respect. I didn't like the player. The person's always great. You just hate when he has a jersey on wearing No. 23.”
However, the more both careers moved on and they got older, they started to cherish the memories made with one another as both realized that there may not be that much left.
“As we get longer in our careers, then you appreciate what that person was able to do for you,” James said. “Because that person motivated you throughout that whole thing. You sit back like, ‘OK, how many more times do we have to go against each other? To have moments?' When you look back at it, OK, yes, we always went at each other. We still do now. But you appreciate the moments even more because you know you don't have many moments left.”
Stephen Curry, LeBron James each acknowledge the lack of time left
While people have wanted to see Curry and James team up, each isn't holding out hope though the league has surprised them, especially with the recent trade as the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic.
“No, I mean, the league has surprised us for sure,” Curry said. “Yeah, you could say that anything can happen. A version of ‘comparison is the thief of joy' is that phrase. I don't think about that, though. Nobody talks about an alternative universe because you can forget about what's happening right now.”
“There ain't going to be that many times left,” James said. “So you take it all in and you don't take it for granted. It's coming to an end soon.”
