For the past decade, the NBA has largely been defined by the rivalry between Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. And while this duo have endured some heated battles, that doesn’t mean they hold any animosity towards each other.
Curry and the Warriors famously ran into James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals four years in a row, with the Dubs prevailing in three of those four series. More recently, LeBron has joined Los Angeles, meaning he battles Curry and Golden State on a more frequent basis.
The duo played together for the first time in their careers this past summer with Team USA in the 2024 Olympics, helping their country win a gold medal. For the most part, though, they are top rivals, with Curry revealing that LeBron serves as his primary motivation for his work during the NBA offseason.
“All year, offseason workouts, in the back of your mind, (LeBron James’) face is in your head, thinking about who you’re going to have to beat to get to the ultimate goal,” Curry said in an ESPN interview alongside James and Kevin Durant.
Six of the past 10 NBA Finals have been won by either Curry or LeBron, which goes to show that if you want a title, you typically have to take one of these guys down. Of the four non-Curry or James teams to win it all, only the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks and 2024 Boston Celtics didn’t have to go through either of these two guys to win it all.
Curry has obviously known this for quite awhile, because he kept on bumping into James and the Cavs in the Finals. But the stakes have been raised quite a bit now that James is in the same conference as him, meaning that if they meet up in the playoffs, their championship run could get derailed sooner than expected.
Even though James’ 40th birthday is less than a week away, he still strikes fear in his opponents that not many players can. And if Curry wants to lead the Warriors on another championship run this season, he may have to go through LeBron in the playoffs once again in order to reach the top of the mountain.
