Recently, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry was asked if he is the greatest point guard in NBA history, and he said he is the greatest, perhaps at least partly in jest.
Michael Jordan opined that the greatest point guard ever is actually former Los Angles Lakers guard Magic Johnson, and on a recent episode of Road Trippin’, former Cleveland Cavaliers Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye agreed with Jordan. In fact, Jefferson said the gap between Curry and Johnson is greater than the gap between Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
“Steph doesn’t want that smoke, as great as Steph is,” said Jefferson. “Steph could make a claim. He could make a claim, I didn’t say it would be accurate. Magic Johnson, it’s not even close.”
“His stats are so astronomically wild, like the only rookie ever to get a Finals MVP, like MVP almost every single year, championship after championship,” Frye said. “Steph is that dude, but Steph ain’t that dude. He ain’t that. You ain’t him.”
“The gap between him and Magic is, in my opinion, further than the gap between Kobe and Jordan, in my opinion,” added Jefferson.
Curry has put together quite a resume in his 14 seasons in the NBA. He has won four championships, three of which came against the Cavs, two regular season MVPs, two scoring titles and one NBA Finals MVP.
He averaged 29.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists a game this past season, and he helped keep the Warriors in one piece as they were strangely inconsistent while looking to defend their most recent world title.
Johnson, meanwhile, won five rings, three regular season MVPs, three Finals MVPs and led the NBA in assists four times.
Many have talked about how Curry and his Warriors have changed the NBA, but Johnson played a big role in rescuing the league at a time when it was in deep trouble.
In 1979, the year Johnson was drafted, television ratings were so low that the Finals were shown late at night on tape delay.
But the Lakers superstar made the league into prime-time television by the mid-1980s not only by becoming a great player and winning championship after championship but also by bringing an exciting team-oriented, fast-breaking style of play to the league.
In some ways, it was a preview of what Curry and the Warriors have done in recent years.
Even at age 35, he has shown absolutely no signs of slowing down, and he could conceivably add to his legacy and seriously challenge Johnson’s claim as the greatest point guard to ever play basketball. But with Golden State’s roster aging fast, that will be a tall order.
