One-time Golden State Warriors player and former nemesis Richard Jefferson dropped a solid bar in the Stephen Curry–Magic Johnson debate on who’s the greatest point guard of all time.
“Yes, Step [Curry] changed the game, but we can’t add that [to his case] because Magic Johnson [and Larry Bird] saved the game,” Jefferson said on the November 7 episode of the “NBA Today” on ESPN.
Jefferson’s statement came on the heels of Draymond Green correcting a reporter that he’s played with “THE” greatest point guard of all time, referring to Curry.
Dray interrupted this reporter’s question to set the record straight on Steph’s status as the goat PG 🐐
For Jefferson, Curry has to win two more championships and one or two more Finals MVP.
Curry is trailing Johnson in all important accolades: Championships 5-4, MVPs 3-2, Finals MVPs 3-1.
“So when you start looking at these things back to back and you start looking stuff there is no doubt but again, these numbers don’t add up,” Jefferson said. “In my opinion about [Curry], when I talked about superstars that I played with, he is one of the best. He’s one of the ultimate team guys, but just to me as a basketball person, right now, I think he is the second-best, maybe second or third-best point guard and I think he’s probably the third or fourth-best shooting guard of all time.”
Jefferson played with Curry during the 2012-13 season. Then he won his lone NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 at the expense of Curry and the Warriors.
Historic Start
Curry is off to a historic start to his 15th season in the NBA.
After his back-to-back seven 3-point games against the Cavaliers and Pistons, Curry became the first player to make four plus 3s in each of his first eight games of an NBA season.
The 35-year-old Curry is averaging unprecedented numbers.
Curry is producing 30.5 points on 53/48/91 shooting split, marking the third time he’s averaging 30 on 50/45/90 shooting through the first eight games of the season in his career. He’s the only NBA player to have ever done it even once, according to Malika Andrews in the same episode of the “NBA Today”.
Curry also has the highest scoring average through eight games for any NBA player in history age 35 or older.
Western Conference Player of the Week
Curry sustained his hot shooting with 34 points against the Pistons on the back of a consecutive game with seven 3-pointers.
The Warriors superstar won Western Conference Player of the Week before he torched the Pistons.
In the past week, Curry led the Warriors to a 3-1 record, averaging 30.1 points per game while making 23 three-pointers in the four games – on 52.3% shooting.
Curry also put up 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists as he regained his starting point guard role with Chris Paul relegated to the bench.
Paul is also off to a historic run as the Warriors’ Sixth Man.
Over his first four games off the bench, the 38-year-old Paul has amassed 29 assists and zero turnovers. His amazingly immaculate assist-to-turnover ratio hasn’t been done by a Warriors reserve since current Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar’s 30-assists, zero-turnover over a four-game stretch in the 1982-83 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
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Ex-Warriors Guard and Nemesis Drops Bar in Stephen Curry-Magic Johnson Debate