Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is unquestionably one of the best players of his generation, but how reliable is he when it comes to making his own list of them?
We have seen this type of thing before. NBA players make all-time lists, and they frequently look odd. Curry was worried people would be thinking the same thing about his rankings, but he go ahead and made them anyway.
While joined by his father, former NBA player Dell Curry, on their “Heat Check” podcast, Curry rattled off the top five players of his era, and I've got to say, his list is pretty solid: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and himself.
“I know every time you do this you're gonna miss somebody and [people will say], ‘Oh my God, he left him off the list? What was he thinking? This guy doesn't know basketball,'” Curry said (h/t Doric Sam of Bleacher Report).
Going to be honest: no one should be saying that about Steph's list. It's a pretty good one, and it doesn't really have any outlandish names on it.
He also gave honorable mention to Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis as well as his Warriors teammate, Klay Thompson.
Is this the end of the road for Stephen Curry and the Warriors as we know them?
The Warriors won 46 games this season and were hammered by the Sacramento Kings in a play-in game. Based on what we saw from Golden State all season long, its loss to the Kings shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise.
Last year, the Dubs went 44-38 and ultimately fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs.
Yes, the Warriors are three seasons removed from winning their fourth NBA championship with the trio of Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green, but at this point, that title seemed like the last hurrah for the group.
Thompson is set to be a free agent this offseason, and there appears to be a legitimate possibility that he won't be back with the Dubs next season. He is also clearly declining, as is Green, whose overall impact is not quite the same as it was years ago.
Even Curry, while still great, seems to be slipping. Yes, he averaged 26.4 points per game this season on 45.0/40.8/92.3 shooting splits, but he averaged just .142 win shares per 48 minutes, his lowest mark since his second NBA season all the way back in 2010-11. He is also still very efficient, boasting a true-shooting percentage of 61.6 percent, but that is well off of his peak when he was regularly logging over 65 percent in that area.
The Warriors have obviously gotten old, and rising young teams in the Western Conference may be pushing them aside.
There is no doubt that Golden State had an unbelievable run. It won four titles while making six NBA Finals appearances between 2015 and 2022, and Curry himself won back-to-back MVP awards throughout that run.
However, the sun appears to have set on the Warriors dynasty.
We'll see what the next step is for Steph and Co. next season.
Follow Us
Subscribe