Getty Steve Kerr talks to Steph Curry during a game against the Denver Nuggets.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was not in the mood to compare his most famous player and his most famous former teammate.
A fan put Kerr on the spot this week, asking him to make a comparison between Steph Curry and Michael Jordan, but the Warriors coach wasn’t having any of it. Kerr laughed away the question, asking the fan whether he was planning to put the video on Twitter. That is exactly where it ended up, with video of the hilarious exchange capturing some viral attention.
“Maaannnnn! What, are you gonna put this on Twitter?” 😂
Steve Kerr didn’t want to debate MJ and Steph with this fan.
(via @maurice_koenig)
This was not the first time that Kerr has been asked to compare the current and future Hall of Famers, and in the past he’s had much more to say about the players.
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Kerr’s Thoughts on Jordan and Curry
When he’s not being caught off-guard, Kerr has had plenty to say about the similarities and differences between Curry and Jordan. Last season, when Curry put a Warriors team on the fringes of playoff contention on his back late in the year, Kerr said the MVP-worthy effort reminded him of his former teammate.
“He’s reminding me of MJ in that you just get so used to the brilliance and the excellence, it sort of blends in with everything else,” Kerr told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “It just becomes routine. It’s insane to say that because what you’re watching is otherworldly, and yet you sort of begin to expect it. That’s probably the purest sign of greatness.”’
While Curry’s brilliance on the court sometimes reminds Kerr of Jordan, the Warriors coach said there are some big differences between the two as well. In an appearance on The Rex Chapman Show back in June, Kerr explained that Curry doesn’t share Jordan’s unyielding demands of his teammates.
“He drove us hard,” Kerr said of his former Chicago Bulls teammate, saying greats Tim Duncan and Curry didn’t have the same mentality. “Timmy doesn’t do that. Steph doesn’t do that. But that’s the way Michael did it.”
Curry Again in MVP Contention
Curry could still evoke more MJ comparisons from his coach. The Warriors star has picked up where he left off last season, leading the league in scoring with 28.2 points per game. Curry moved into the lead for the Kia MVP Ladder on NBA.com, which noted his vintage performance in the team’s come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Only 5️⃣0️⃣ threes until Steph Curry passes Ray Allen
(➡️ @MasterClass)
“This battle between the Curry brothers on Wednesday lived up to its billing, with Stephen coming out on top over Seth with a 25-point performance with 10 assists in a game his Warriors trailed the Sixers by 19 points, before winning by 20,” the report noted, adding that Curry is closing in this season on the lead for all-time three-pointers, just 49 behind Ray Allen.
Jordan is likely taking notice. He and Curry had a chance to catch up at this year’s Ryder Cup, and Curry said he pressed Jordan about his famous statement two years ago that the Warriors guard was “not a Hall of Famer yet.” Speaking to David Aldridge and Marcus Thompson on The Athletic’s Hoops Adjacent podcast, Curry said Jordan explained what he really said on the issue.
“That was the first question, and they just edited it out,” Curry said. “He said, ‘First-ballot, Hall of Fame, no problem.’”
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