Two Kings, One Crown: LeBron James vs Stephen Curry
This is a huge debate among modern NBA fans, based on how he revolutionized the game, lots of fans think Steph Curry is the best player of the modern era
For nearly two decades they have defined basketball, shared Finals stages and pushed each other to historic heights.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry are the two most dominant players of their era, but who stands alone?
The Case for LeBron
LeBron’s case is the most statistically complete in NBA history.
He is the all-time leading scorer in the regular season and playoffs combined with 43,440 regular season points and 8,289 playoff points, the only player ever to reach the 50,000 mark combined.
He has won four titles in 10 Finals with three different teams and is the first player in NBA history to have at least 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists in a career.
His game is the most well rounded. LeBron has played at different times as a leading scorer, organizing point guard and defensive anchor — often all at the same time.
He has been to eleven Finals, between Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles, maintained a kind of individual supremacy that no player of the contemporary age has gone anywhere near matching.
His 2016 triumph, coming back from down 3-1 against a 73-win Golden State team, is possibly the greatest complete individual Finals performance in the history of the sport.
The Case for Curry
Stephen Curry’s influence is based on something no one else has ever done: he changed the game of basketball.
Curry has made more threes than anybody in NBA history, passing Ray Allen’s record in 2021, and added to it to reach 4,225 – a feat that seems nearly impossible for a 6’2” point guard who was not highly recruited out of high school.
He has won four titles — 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022 — all with the Golden State Warriors, and earned his long-awaited Finals MVP in 2022 after averaging 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists against the Boston Celtics.
He is also a two-time regular season MVP, including the first unanimous MVP in league history in 2015-16.
Curry led the 73-9 Warriors that season and it's still the best regular season record in NBA history
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The Debate Turns
LeBron and Curry have faced each other four times in the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Golden State Warriors from 2015-2018, with Curry's Warriors winning three of those series.
That head-to-head record still means something, and Curry's fans remind you of it regularly.
But LeBron has big answers: Across ten finals, just about every non-three-point-shooting statistical category, LeBron’s statistical imprint makes Curry's look small.
And his career longevity – still playing at elite level at 41 – adds a dimension Curry has yet to duplicate.
The Verdict
Curry is the finest shooter that the game has ever seen, and a true revolutionary force.
But LeBron's mix of volume, variety and continuous excellence across 23 seasons puts him in a category by himself.
Curry changed the game, but what LeBron has achieved were once thought to be impossible.
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