The rivalry between Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and Golden State Warriors legend Stephen Curry has been going on for nearly a decade. And now another chapter is set to take place when the Lakers and Warriors square off on Christmas Day.
The majority of this rivalry took place when James was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, meeting the Warriors in four consecutive NBA Finals from 2015-to-2018. But there have been some moments since LeBron has joined the Lakers as well, including an incredibly fierce second-round playoff matchup in 2023 in which the Lakers ousted Curry’s Warriors in six games.
But as the years have gone on, the rivalry has shifted a bit and Curry spoke about it in an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews, noting that while they will still go at each other on the court, there is more respect now and less pettiness between the two than in years past:
“It’s a fun battle because of the longevity of how long we’ve been doing this. There’s more appreciation and respect than probably back in the day. There was a lot of pettiness and resentment, the rivalry was real. But it evolves. We still want to go at each other, but the respect is there. Now, there’s couple more gray (hairs), a couple more kids.”
That respect likely grew even more this past summer as the two were teammates on Team USA and had outstanding chemistry together in leading the team to a Gold Medal at the Olympics. This of course led to many wondering if the two would ever team up on an NBA court, but Curry said it’s highly unlikely, though he didn’t necessarily say it won’t happen:
“Probably not. But I think the ‘what ifs’ and all that type of stuff, we kind of just leave that for whatever platform people wanna talk about it on.”
It is fun to think about, but the chances of James ending his career anywhere other than with the Lakers is slim at best. Both LeBron and Curry are two of the greatest to ever play the game and their rivalry was one that the whole basketball world watched grow, and now is the time to appreciate the few meetings they have left against one another.
Lakers’ LeBron James not taking matchups with Stephen Curry for granted
That is certainly the mindset that LeBron James himself is taking as he noted that it’s always fun to go up against someone like Stephen Curry and we don’t know how many more times they will share the court together.
“Always. Anytime you get an opportunity to be on the court and compete versus one of the greatest to ever play this game, you do not take it for granted,” James said.
“You don’t know how many more opportunities you are going to get to go against each other, so it’s always fun.”
