Getty LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers defends Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry caught a stray bullet when Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul was trying to defend the legitimacy of LeBron James‘ NBA Bubble championship from the Los Angeles Lakers superstar‘s critics.
“If Steph [Curry] wins in the bubble, do they discredit it? No, they don’t,” Paul said on the latest episode of Gil’s Arena podcast.
James is in the conversation as the GOAT (greatest of all time) with Michael Jordan. The 38-year-old Lakers superstar, however, has only won four championships so far, against Jordan’s six titles — two three-peats with the Bulls in the ’90s.
James’ critics have put an asterisk on his fourth title as it came at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the NBA season was cut short and finished it in an insulated bubble environment with no fans in attendance in Orlando.
Curry is also embroiled in the greatest point guard ever debate. While he already is the greatest shooter of all time with the most 3-pointers made in NBA history, Curry also claimed he’s the greatest point guard ever in the same Gil Arenas’ podcast.
Curry answered “Yes” when former NBA player Gilbert Arenas asked him on his podcast, “Are you the best point guard ever?”
His answer spawned a debate among fans and basketball analysts, pitting him against Lakers legend Magic Johnson as the game’s greatest point guard ever.
Paul’s comments suggest that James is being unfairly discredited compared to Curry, who also has won four championships with the Warriors.
But contrary to Paul’s suggestive narrative, Curry has also been discredited for his championships when Kevin Durant joined them to form a super team.
Warriors Have No Plans to Trade Chris Paul
Warriors owner Joe Lacob made it clear that they have no intention to flip Chris Paul for a younger All-Star after acquiring him in the Jordan Poole trade.
‘There’s a lot of possibilities,” Lacob told The Athletic’s Kim Kawakami. “… But I don’t think our goal, quite frankly, is to trade Chris Paul away or do something with that contract. We like the idea of having Chris Paul on the team. And we’re excited about it. So let’s see what happens, how it works and how successful we are, and we’ll take it from there.”
Lacob believes Paul’s track record of making people better will be good for the Warriors, especially their young guys.
Warriors, Klay Thompson Start Extension Talks
Lacob also told Kawakami that talks have already started between them and Klay Thompson‘s representation regarding his looming extension contract.
“We’ve had some very brief discussions at this point with his agent,” Lacob said. “But they’re very, very early. … I fully expect that we’ll have some substantial discussions soon sometime and we’ll see if we can’t put something together that allows Klay to be here for a long time, which we clearly would like him to be.”
The 33-year-old Thompson is coming off his first full season since an ACL and Achilles injuries that sidelined him for two seasons. He is set to earn $43.2 million next season, the final year of his previous five-year, $190 million max extension he signed in 2019.