Tracy McGrady is not putting Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in the same tier as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson… at least not yet.
While a lot of fans and experts are convinced that Curry has cemented himself alongside the all-time greats with his sixth trip to the NBA Finals in eight years, McGrady is not one of them. There is no doubt that the Warriors guard has changed the game with his superior marksmanship from long-distance, but for T-Mac, Curry has yet to prove that he can win a championship without an asterisk.
“That's a tough question,” McGrady said about Curry's all-time ranking, per NBC Sports. “Because he has his career individually and with what he's accomplished with his team is tough. Because you’ve gotta think, he won a championship, right, against LeBron [James] that didn't have Kyrie [Irving], that didn't have Kevin Love. He didn't win the [Finals] MVP, right? Then he loses a 3-1 lead to LeBron, gets K.D., K.D. comes and wins two championships, so that gives Steph three championship but K.D. wins the two MVPs, right?
“We know Steph is like the 3-point God. But when it comes to putting him with [Michael Jordan] and these guys that won that level of championships; Kobe [Bryant] and Magic Johnson, I don't know where to rank him. I know he's pretty high. But I think those guys are in a different class than Steph Curry based off of [all of that]. They're on championship teams. K.D. came and joined the Warriors and became the best player and helped Steph win two more championships. But Steph wasn't the best player on that team.”
Now Draymond Green and Warriors fans will certainly have some issues with Tracy McGrady's Stephen Curry take.
During their 2015 championship, Curry was definitely the best player on the team. While he didn't win Finals MVP, his presence really allowed the rest of the Warriors to thrive. And still, he put up significant numbers at the time.
Furthermore when he was playing with Kevin Durant, Curry has always been the top-scorer of the team. KD actually never topped the Dubs in scoring aside from the 2017-18 season when he was tied with Curry with 26.4 points per game. It is als easy to say that Curry and KD benefited from each other by playing together, so it's unfair to say that Durant was better than Steph during their run together.
But then again, Curry can change the mind of McGrady if he can lead the Warriors to the championship this 2021-22, especially if he wins Finals MVP. Not that he has anything to prove to anyone, but it will certainly silence his doubters.
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