LeBron James and Stephen Curry are now teammates on the men’s national team for the Paris Olympics. Despite occasionally playing together during All-Star games since LeBron joined the Lakers, their primary interactions had been as rivals, notably facing off in the NBA Finals every year from 2015 to 2018.
Although they are excited about playing together now, it wasn’t always seen as a likely scenario. Joe Vardon’s piece in The Athletic explores the evolving dynamics of their relationship, revealing their “healthy resentment.” It turns out they didn’t particularly like each other, but always maintained a respectful rivalry.
Curry described it as a respectful rivalry, acknowledging a healthy tension towards someone who presents a challenge in your path. Despite that, he holds deep respect for LeBron’s abilities as both a player and a person, recognizing the constant challenge of competing against him and striving to overcome that challenge each year.
James recognized that by traditional NBA rivalry standards, they should have harbored animosity toward each other. However, being LeBron James, he understood the reality behind many of those rivalries and didn’t want to overlook the opportunity to experience other meaningful moments with Curry.
Many of you may have grown up during the Bird-Magic era where traditional rivalries dictated that we shouldn’t like each other,” James remarked. “But I’m aware that players like Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson embraced and showed mutual respect on the court. They say Michael Jordan never spoke to his opponents, but I know he and Charles Barkley had many conversations during the ’93 finals and even played golf together.”
Their intense competitiveness was vividly displayed in game six of the 2015 NBA Finals, highlighted by LeBron blocking Curry from behind and making sure Curry knew about it.
It’s wonderful that almost ten years later, they’re on the same team with a shared objective. Hopefully, they’ll create moments as unforgettable as those from their rivalry days.
