OUR LEBRON-STEPH DEBATE — THE BIGGER CAREER? — MIGHT BE DECIDED BY DAVIS
Each superhero has four NBA titles, and if James or Curry wins a fifth, a case can be made that he achieved more than the other — and imagine if a revived mystery man tilts the question toward LeBron
Quarrel until your brain explodes, if you must, about the latest postseason collision of LeBron James and Steph Curry. Does it qualify as a last-of-the-titans experience? I say it does, knowing both were child witnesses to the NBA’s most competitive era, when Michael Jordan not only craved championships but devoured souls, eviscerated body organs and dipped expensive Cuban cigars into the blood of the vanquished.
Today, the modus operandi is to downplay the joyful act of winning: by openly flouting life like Kyrie Irving, rationalizing failure like Giannis Antetokounmpo or brandishing a gun in a strip joint like Ja Morant. That’s why we should cherish what likely is the final meeting in a near-decade-long installment of LeBron vs. Steph, which might not follow the timeline of Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird but certainly carries similar cultural gravity and combative passion, if not the same goofy McDonald’s ads.
Curry is the greatest shooter ever. James is the all-time scoring leader. This second-round playoff series — which feels like the Finals, and might double the ratings of, say, a Denver-Boston series — means much more than each is letting on. At present, they’re making nice, such as when Curry checked out of Game 1 and James followed him all the way to Curry’s seat on the sideline, where he said something and laughed with Golden State’s players and coaches.
“He was just joking around about having to guard me all the way till I got to the bench,” said Curry, appreciative of James’ nod to his 50-point revelation in a Game 7 last weekend.
But let’s not kid ourselves. If the Lakers-Warriors scrum evolves into a final-buzzer-of-final-game classic, I’m not saying switchblades will be brandished, but both men know this could be their best remaining chance to throw a mid-June party. As James said, “Just two of the most competitive players that have ever played this game. And we want to etch our names in the history books as much as we can. But playing and doing it our own way.”
True, each has etched his own unique place in sports history. Yet there is an open question awaiting a firmer answer: Who will be remembered for having the bigger career — and how will it influence positioning in the ultimate all-time ranking of basketball’s greatest players? The number of championships might be the determining factor. Curry owns four title rings, three against LeBron’s teams in Cleveland. James also owns four rings, one against Curry in that epic 2016 comeback, but he has had to hunt down Larry O’Brien Trophies while hopscotching the league atlas like arrows on an airline route map.
Steph? In the footsteps of Jordan and so many solo-team-dynasty legends before him, he has built a Golden State culture without leaving in mid-stream — unlike, say, Kevin Durant, who’s about to crash again with another “superteam” creation — and will remain with the Warriors until retirement, when they build him a statue and let him own a piece of the franchise. LeBron? Where would his statue be located? In his native northeast Ohio, I assume, but not in Miami and not in Los Angeles, where, in the plaza outside Crypto.com Arena, they have enough bronzed monuments of greats who achieved more with the Lakers than James. Count them: Magic, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Elgin Baylor — with Kobe Bryant’s soon to be unveiled on Chick Hearn Court, where the famed broadcaster also has a statue.
Do the simple math. He who wins a fifth title, if he wins a fifth title, will be recalled in my book as the more accomplished player. And imagine if someone else, Anthony Davis, decides the equation. What if the big man ends the Warriors’ run while pushing the Lakers to the Western Conference finals?
One game is one game, I know, but Davis’ performance in a 117-112 victory reminded us why he’s often described as a top-five force in the league — with an annoying caveat. He is injured so often, including 20 missed games this season with a bone chip and stress reaction in his foot, that Charles Barkley gave him a dubious nickname: “Street Clothes.” But he has remained healthy enough to bury Memphis and send yappy, crotch-punching Dillon Brooks to the unemployment line, followed by a stupendous show in Chase Center. He played all 24 second-half minutes, on a night of 30 points, 23 rebounds, five assists and four blocks — the last on Curry’s layup attempt, followed by a rebound after Jordan Poole’s ill-advised longball. The difference Davis can make against the Warriors and the Denver Nuggets is what he provides defensively. On the shots he contested Tuesday night, the Warriors made just four of 17.
Only O’Neal, Abdul-Jabbar, Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain have gone 30-20 for the Lakers in a playoff game. That prompted James, sitting beside Davis in the post-game press conference, to pump his ego. He has been the subject of locker-room grumbling when he misses time or doesn’t extend effort, but let’s not forget: He and James led the Lakers to a championship in the 2020 Bubble. If both can stay healthy, are they capable of another one?
“The Lakers franchise over the years, over the course of their existence, has always had dominant big men, dominant guys that have been a force at the rim,” James said. “That's why their jerseys are in the rafters. AD will be up there when he's done playing. The No. 3 will be up in the rafters. He continues to show why he's one of the best players that we have in this league.”
The rafters assumption, too, is debatable. But say it again — IF he stays healthy — Davis is more vital to title aspirations than even James, whose performances will ebb and flow as he approaches 39. “I mean, he's everything for us,” guard Dennis Schroder said. “Defensively. Offensively. He's a big part for this organization. He wasn't an All-Star. He wasn't a Defensive Player of the Year. He's taking it serious, doing everything for us, and he's the anchor.”
Sensitive and feeling the burden of winning as a Laker, and for James, Davis claims he isn’t trying to silence his critics. “It doesn't matter to me,” he said after Game 1. “I don't care what no one thinks. Only the guys in the locker room, coaching staff, only opinions that I care about. Other than that, I just go out and play basketball, do what I can do to help the team win. … Opinions outside the locker room — what guys say, guys think — is irrelevant to me.”
His continued dominance would fuel the idea, still in an incubator stage, that the Lakers can challenge for their 18th title banner, which would snap a tie with the Celtics. That would elevate James above Curry in any body-of-work debate, undeniably, and it would place him one behind Jordan in the eternal MJ-vs.-James squabble. The LeBron-a-thon crowd, emphasizing his 20 seasons and all-time category placements, will scoff and say Curry had better players around him. And Curry simply will wax nostalgic and not engage in discourse, saying, “It is special to know the first series we played him in Cleveland in the ’14-15 to now, we’re blessed to be playing at this level. Excited about a new chapter, two teams trying to keep their season alive and chase a championship. That’s what it’s all about.”
Larger than that, LeBron vs. Steph remains America’s foremost basketball rivalry in the third decade of the 21st century. It might not feature rough stuff — surely, even Draymond Green won’t let his demons repeat an attack on James’ crown jewels that cost the Warriors a fifth title seven years ago — yet the drama and stakes will exceed anything else the league can offer this month, including the mission of MVP Joel Embiid on his usual one leg and the injury status of maniacal Jimmy Butler.
“Well, four finals matchups, you know, that's what it's all about. That's the apex of NBA basketball,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, well-equipped to assess historical magnitude when his reign of nine titles as a coach and player spans back to Jordan in Chicago. “The two of them meeting four times at the highest level, that's what rivalries are born out of. That's Magic and Bird, the matchups we think about in history come from that sort of a circumstance.
“I think Steph's three years behind LeBron. By the time Steph really became a superstar LeBron already was one, but no doubt this last decade they have been two of the greatest and they've had a lot of meetings in the postseason. I think there's a lot of mutual respect there, but just like Magic and Bird, back in the day, you meet in the playoffs, and that respect kind of takes a back seat. Guys are trying to beat each other and they're going to do anything to do so and then there's time for the respect later on, but it's wonderful for basketball fans, amazing for the league. Just to have two all-time greats at the peak of their powers for almost an entire decade playing against each other frequently — pretty, pretty awesome rivalry.”
Twelve million viewers watched Curry, in the peak viewing window, advance with his 50-spot Sunday. LeBron, too, remains appointment TV. Save an eyeball for Anthony Davis. For the Warriors, AD could mean After Death.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.