After defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals, many people were not only ready to declare Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry one of the greatest point guards of all time but perhaps one of the greatest players ever.
Former Brooklyn Nets guard Mike James is not in that number. During a recent appearance on “The Players Choice” podcast he omitted the four-time NBA champion from his top five point guard list. When asked about his omission, James cited his reason as Curry being “one dimensional”.
“Steph, how he plays and how he gets stuff off, it’s just kinda one-dimensional at times,” James said. “He’s not the primary ball-handler a lot, and for a point guard, that kinda bothers me,” James said.
The Warriors star apparently caught wind of James’ comments. While being interviewed at his upcoming basketball camp, one reporter asked Curry if he would have any mercy on the campers that chose to play him one on one. In his response, Curry hit back at James.
“It’s all bad for them, even as one-dimensional as I am,” Curry said sarcastically (H/T @WarriorsWorld on Twitter).
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Mike James Calls Curry ‘Murky’
Curry could retire today and likely still be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Not only is he a four-time NBA champion and a Finals MVP winner. He is the first and only unanimous NBA regular-season MVP winner.
If Curry continues at the rate he is going, he could end up one of the most decorated players in NBA history. Full stop. But still, James believes that Curry has been a beneficiary of the Warriors’ system, which is part of the reason he omitted him from his top-five point guard list.
“I think those other five can do whatever they want to do on any team in the world right now,” James added.
“I just don’t know about that for Steph. It’s a little murky for Steph… If you put him in Minnesota, he would still kill, but I don’t know if it would be the same.”
Curry Details Why 2022 Title Is Different From Others
The Warriors faced a lot of turmoil en route to winning the 2022 NBA Finals. After losing to a younger, hungrier Grizzlies team in the 2021 play-in tournament, most people agreed that their time was officially over being among the NBA’s top competitors.
Curry says that all the narratives that the Warriors were able to dispel on the way to the 2022 title is what makes it different from the other three.
“You go to these last two years and conversations, narratives, we’re ‘too old,’ the parallel timelines of developing young guys and keeping our core together, all those tough decisions that we had to make, that weighs on you for as much time as we’re going through it,” Curry said to Vincent Goodwill of “Yahoo Sports”.
“Then you get to the finish line, and that’s why I think this one is definitely different because of the three years of baggage we carried coming out of that Game 6 in 2019.”
After years of turmoil, the Warriors were able to get back to the mountaintop and reclaim the NBA title. It will be interesting to see if the Nets can do the same.
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Stephen Curry Fires Back at Former Nets Guard for Disrespectful Comments