Brandon Payne, Stephen Curry's longtime trainer, obviously holds personal bias in favor of the Golden State Warriors icon. Assessing his justification behind his client's recent “best point guard ever” boast, though, nevertheless provides further indication of just how high Curry ranks in that all-time hierarchy.

Asked what makes Curry the greatest point guard of all time ahead of Magic Johnson and other positional luminaries, Payne began his answer with one basically indisputable fact about the four-time NBA champion.

“He’s quite possibly the most skilled basketball player that has ever played,” Payne said of Curry, per Mark Medina of SportsKeeda. “He has the combination with his skill level, his decision-making ability and his level of conditioning. As his career has gone on, he has had increasing level of strength. You have a player that is great at all of those things. On top of that, he happens to shoot it pretty well (laughs). He’s been a winner at a very high level, and he’s a leader. Universally, every teammate that he’s ever had would tell you that they love him. That’s really hard to find. As a leader and communicator, he’s very involved that way. I just think there is a lot to be said for being a great teammate.”

There's no denying that Curry is the best shooter who's ever played basketball. His long-range shot-making exploits are peerless across league annals, a singular propelling force behind the game's increasing reliance on space and three-point shooting. That reality alone sets Curry apart from the vast majority of superstar point guards.

But such a gaudy distinction makes it easy to ignore the other rippling facets of Curry's game that have made him one of the most accomplished, productive players of all time, regardless of position.

Curry wouldn't be an offense unto himself unless he leveraged mass defensive attention and unrelenting pressure into other opportunities for himself and his teammates with an elite handle and high-level court sense. He'd tire out sprinting around screens if he wasn't conditioned like a marathon runner, and get easily pushed off his spots as a penetrator if he didn't spend countless hours getting stronger in the weight room.

Curry's mid-career commitment to fitness has paid similar dividends defensively, where he's more disruptive and reliable than other point guards tasked with his offensive burden. Steve Kerr, an NBA lifer who's won multiple titles alongside Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan, frequently lauds Curry as the modern-day standard bearer of leadership.

Maybe you disagree that Stephen Curry has surpassed Johnson, regularly regarded as a top-five player ever, in the point guard pecking order. The deeper you dig into resumé, numbers, impact and reputation, though, the clearer it becomes that Curry at least belongs in that rarified air of conversation alongside the Los Angeles Lakers legend.