How Stephen Curry's Legacy Could Alter That Of Another Contemporary
A win in these Finals changes so much of how we will perceive these two players.
Jamie Mah @grahammah
It happens to me every year when the NBA playoffs roll around. Just as they are about to begin, I suddenly get this flash of the reality of what I’m about to witness. Each series, each round, carries with it a weight of not only this year’s eventual champion but so much more. In the year of the league’s 75th anniversary, legacy, what that word means, and how it encapsulates so much of what makes this game exciting comes to a head with plenty of narrative speculation and intrigue. I’m fascinated by its implication for the players and teams involved. Who will emerge victorious? How will they get there? Whose career will be defined by these next two months? It’s why ESPN commentator, Stephen A. Smith, has a job and why fans such as myself write columns like this one.
Legacies matter.
Kobe Bryant was right to proclaim years back that “friendships come and go, but banners hang forever.” His mark on this game will live long past those who got to see him play. We’ll always remember his pass to Shaq in the 2000 Western Conference Finals game 7 as THE pivotal milestone in his career as it ultimately was what propelled his Lakers squad to their first NBA Finals. It is these singular plays that define generational stars and how we remember them. From MJ’s game-winner in 98’ to Magic’s skyhook in 87’, these snippets of greatness and the players who give them to us define the NBA.
This ultimately leads me to a little backstory.
On July 20th of last year we saw a rising superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, take the crowning next step on his journey up the league’s hierarchy in winning his first Larry O’Brien Trophy. To say that this player’s ascension has been anything short of extraordinary would undersell what he’s already achieved — winning last year’s NBA title while being down 0–2 to a young upstart Phoenix Suns team. Instead of giving into the pressure of the proverbial hole his team had dug themselves, this two time league MVP put his Bucks on his back and carried them over the finish line with one of the greatest series clinching performances of all time. His 50 points and 14 rebounds not only gave him his first chip, but it also brought with it a stat line for the ages.
To be one of the greatest of all time, you must have this pedigree. A competing desire to win at all costs. A no holds barred attitude towards winning while overcoming your fears and obstacles. Certain players have it. You know it when you see it. Luka Doncic does. You can smell it when he plays. Donovan Mitchell does not. Neither does James Harden. The irony of this league, however, is that we have stars (Rudy Gobert), superstars (Joel Embiid) and then the guys who win you rings (Giannis). We often fall victim to thinking they’re all the same when in reality there are differences.
Very few players ever reach this pinnacle. It’s why this time of year gives me such excitement and anxiety. So much can change in the blink of an eye.
Look at it this way. If Steph and the Warriors somehow win it all this year, that’ll give him four titles. Repeat four! That’s the same amount as LeBron, y’know, the ‘supposed’ second best player of all time (he isn’t). Now imagine this, if Steph were to win — and finally claim his elusive Finals MVP, his legacy takes a huge jump. Almost top 10 level stuff. I wrote about his place amongst the greats a few years back and at the time I had him 14th. Another title win gets him closer to that coveted elite top ten club. More on this shortly.
In case you were wondering, here’s the Top 10: MJ, Bill Russell, Kareem, Kobe, LeBron, Duncan, Shaq, Bird, Magic, Wilt. The guys with the worst resume to drop are Wilt and Bird, which, if you think about it, is insane!
But Steph’s legacy here is only part of the overall legacy narrative. The Finals begin tonight and so far what we’ve learned from these playoffs is that Luka does indeed have that proverbial ‘it’ factor. Jimmy Butler is a beast and will always show up. The Celtics are for real with the continued advancement of their core trio and, well, Chris Paul just can’t get it done (you’ll learn why further below). There’s been plenty to examine these past several weeks and so much to digest, but, by my count, only two players remain worth monitoring with regard to legacy and one isn’t even playing. If you can’t guess who they are, then you really shouldn’t be reading this column.
The first is the aforementioned Stephen Curry. He has the most win and lose here these next two weeks. My column above from 2019 goes into extensive detail why. Please read it before you continue. I am beyond excited to see how this plays out for him.
The other is LeBron. Has to be. Even without him playing, his legacy hangs in the balance, so to speak.
Shall we begin…
LeBron James
The elephant in the room, of all things, has to be what happens with the Lakers and LeBron. They are the league’s storied franchise who currently employ the NBA’s most decorated player, one who is about to enter his 20th season of play. There is no future here if what happened this past season is any sign of how broken this roster is. We can blame a lot on the signing of Russell Westbrook, who for all of his flaws (can the guy even try to move when he doesn’t have the ball? Seriously, he just stands at the top of the three point line waiting. Move!!!) wasn’t the sole reason this season ended so poorly. Losing Davis for large stretches didn’t help matters much. More on that later. No, like all things leadership, much of this past season’s failure has to fall squarely upon this man’s shoulders. His numbers suggest he had a rather remarkable season, but as podcast Don Bill Simmons, often references, the eye test tells a completely different story.
The NBA, as a league with all its high flying athletic splendour, is a sport which is very easy to predict. If you look at its history and zero in on one important constant, it’s that teams whose best player is over the age of 32 almost rarely win the title. If you go back in the history books and look at the teams who won and who their best player was, only four players emerge as being over this proverbial age. Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell did it a few times with his late 60s squads. But by 1968 and 1969, we could debate that John Havlicek was the more threatening presence for those Laker heart breaking teams (oh poor Jerry West). When Russell retired in 1969 at 36, he was far past his prime, yet, with a similar air of leadership ala Tim Duncan, Russell’s imprint upon those teams had more to do with other intangibles versus raw contribution.
For one, he was also the coach, a role no other player has held in league history, while second, Bill was never once a high-scoring threat compared to his counterpart and rival, Wilt Chamberlain (he scored only 6 points in this final game) as Bill found other ways to beat you. He killed you with defence and rebounding while being the orchestrator of the famed Celtic fast break (it may sound trite to think of the fast break as being a novel thing now, but back in the 60s, it was!).
The other three on this rare list are the aforementioned Chamberlain in 1972, who was also 36, Michael Jordan during the Bulls last three peat and LeBron in 2020 with the Lakers. That’s it! That’s the list. Magic’s last title came at 28. Kobe’s at 31. Larry Bird’s at 30. Hakeem was 32. Durant was 29. Curry 30 (this could change in two weeks). On and on throughout NBA history, you see this same pattern emerging.
So thinking that LeBron, at the age of 38, (which he’ll be by next year’s playoffs) stands to even have a chance of winning a title once more while being the best player is almost impossible. Not saying it can’t be done, but the history books suggest otherwise. It’s why he wasn’t able to drag this sorry ass Lakers team to the playoffs versus how he used to carry horrible teams when he was younger. Father time is undefeated and LeBron just can’t cart the load like he used to. Those miles add up and the motor struggles to compete (he just passed 63,000 total minutes played).
I mean, look at this roster of garbage he dragged to the 2007 NBA Finals.
That starting five. Wow!
This team had no reason being on this stage, but they were there solely because of his ‘youthful’ greatness. Luka is an exemplary example of this currently with his Mavs team. After him, they have little talent, but his skill set is so strong, he enables them to look far superior than they truly are.
So wrapping up, the LeBron era is over. He could get traded to another team and possibly win another chip, but it won’t be because he’s the best player. However, the likelihood of this happening is slim to zero. He’s not getting traded and this Lakers roster isn’t going anywhere. Which leads me to the legacy portion of his career. How does this affect his overall ranking?
For starters, the only thing he’s playing for now is to pass Kareem for all time scoring. That’s it. He knows this. Two more seasons tops and he’s out. With that being said, can a player who dominated the 2010s like no other, who is probably the most athletically gifted player to ever play outside of Shaq, be comfortable to have won only four rings? In the top 10, he ranks only higher than Bird and Wilt respectively with how many titles he has, while being tied with Shaq, who similar to LeBron here, underachieved as a player with how gifted they both were.
Had Shaq been more disciplined, there’s no telling how many rings he left off the table. For LeBron, his 2009–11 seasons tarnish his resume brutally. You factor in that with his inability to being coached, a common theme throughout his career (something I wrote about a few years back), safe for a small period when Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra transformed things in 2013 and you begin to see the similarities.
I’ll always wonder how he might have reacted/adjusted to being coached by someone who wouldn’t have been afraid to tell him no. Phil Jackson saved Shaq’s career. For LeBron, the system always had to revolve around him dominating the ball, which when pressed against top level defences (Spurs in 2014) could easily nullify his greatness or at least slow down what his teams looked to achieve. When he wasn’t in the game, there was no offence to run.
LeBron was and is that great so as to ultimately prove his downfall of sorts, not that winning four titles and four MVPs is anything to cry home about, but when legacy and overall career totals are examined thirty years from now, one lingering question will haunt him.
How did he only won four?
Many media prognosticators anoint him as being the second best player of all time (a narrative his team helped push) when in reality, amongst those legends who sit at the same table, rings is all that matters in their minds, which is why he can’t be that high. His numbers are staggering and they are remarkable considering how much pressure he had on him coming into the league as a fresh faced 18-year-old. He most certainly lived up to the hype and then some, only, it feels as if he partially underachieved if that’s even possible to consider.
One last intriguing subplot about those in the top 10. Shaq and LeBron are the only two to play on more than two teams. Somehow I don’t find this surprising at all.
To cap off this comparison, here’s a snippet of what former ESPN writer/podcaster and Ringer founder, Bill Simmons, wrote about Shaq in his acclaimed 2009 book, The Book Of Basketball:
So much stands out here, how both received massive endorsements before accomplishing anything. Both took youthful teams to the Finals early on, only to be swept by a much more experienced squad led by a more dominant player (Olajuwon/Duncan). Then several years of losing (LeBron from 09’ — 11’) followed by years of dominance and titles, then a bit of losing to follow with one last chip they barely won with both having slight asterisk sentiments attached (the unfair and horrible officiating in the 2006 Finals and, well, the bubble season). Not exactly the same, but similarities abound. LeBron cared more than Shaq, but did he care as much as Jordan and Kobe? I don’t think so.
Therefore, this post season matters. He’s been the best player in the league for the past 12 seasons, yet Curry may end up having the same amount of rings as he does. This says less about Steph’s career and more about LeBron’s. Not so much a failure as a bit of marginal disappointment. Sure, eight straight Finals appearances are nice, but winners don’t count their losses. No one cares that he has this achievement. Well, at least they shouldn’t. Think of it this way. Who came second to Usain Bolt in the 100m dash in 2008, 2012 and 2016?
Stumped?
Of course you are. Why? Because Gold is all that matters. The Larry O’Brien Trophy is what counts. No one remembers who came second. Jordan holding that Gold ball like his life depended on it in 91’ is what we remember. LeBron is an icon. A top five all time player. But was his career good enough?
I’m not so sure it was.
LeBron and Steph played in numerous Finals against each other, their styles of play are drastically different, but how they won and how much they will have will determine so much about their careers decades from now. It’s why Bird and Magic revered one another. They knew no matter what, how the other performed and won affected their legacy as much as their own play. It was supposed to be Kobe for LeBron, but sadly, that never happened. No, it was a 6’3” guard who can shoot like no other who will be his most compared rival. So yes, these Finals are all about Steph, but in reality LeBron just as much.
Trust me, he knows this.
Anyway, Warriors in 7.