Whether it’s jealousy, envy, or just the honest truth, a few former NBA greats from Oscar Robertson to Walt Frazier to Charles Barkley have unleashed hot takes concerning Steph Curry.
The overall message is that Curry wouldn’t be able to do the things he’s doing now back in their day. These type of debates are always fun, but at the end of the day, we’ll never be able to find out.
One guys who knows all about these unfair comparisons is none other than LeBron James, who has decided to speak up for Curry.
“Yeah, for me personally in my career I’ve done nothing but big-up the guys who paved the way for us,” James told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m respectful to all the guys who paved the way, the greats, guys who were role players, guys who were part of a championship team or was not. I’ve always been respectful, so it does kind of suck when you’ve got guys who played before us and paved the way for us (and) …they like to talk down on a lot of our players, saying, ‘Well if they played in our era it wouldn’t be the same.’” James, who is widely known to have the memory of an elephant, instantly recalled a time in 2013 when he was the subject of such silliness. “I heard Dennis Rodman say if I played in their era I’d just be an average player – yeah, about me, that I’d be just an average player,” James said. “And they say the same things about Steph, ‘If Steph played in our era, then we’d be more physical with him and we’d go at him.’ And it sucks because we’re just trying to carry the torch for the next group to come behind us.
LeBron is saying all of the right things.
It’s time for the old heads to embrace the new generation of players versus hating on them.