All-time greats LeBron James and Stephen Curry are teammates for the first time in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Well, that’s if you discount meaningless All-Star Games.
There had been some speculation that the two would suit up on an NBA team as they hit the twilight of their careers.
Now that James has re-signed with the Los Angeles Lakers and Curry is entrenched in as the face of his Golden State Warriors, that’s not going to be the case.
These Olympics are the only time that the two future Hall of Famers will play together in a competitive environment. They are representing a country and their home state of Ohio. After all, the two were born in the same Akron hospital four years apart.
How did we get to the point of these once-bitter rivals laughing as friends and teammates? Remember, they met in four consecutive NBA Finals from 2015-18. Curry’s Warriors outlasted LeBron’s former Cavaliers team three times in those four matchups — creating the Association’s most-recent dynasty in the process. Again, bitter rivals.
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The two just recently sat down with media (h/t Joe Vardon of The Athletic) ahead of the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris later this month. What they had to say about their paths to this point was darn interesting.
“It was like a healthy resentment of somebody that’s standing in your way,” Stephen Curry said. “But through it all, like there’s obviously the utmost respect for who he is as a person and a player and like how good he is and the challenge of trying to beat him and trying to solve that problem every year.”
When asked if a rivalry did exist between them following Curry’s comments, James nodded in agreement. He added that the idea “they should hate eachother was false media narrative.
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We’ve seen similar rivalries play out in history. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird come to mind. To a lesser extent, former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas viewed Michael Jordan as a rival. Though, that was lopsided in nature.
While Johnson and Bird grew close in the post-career days, the on-court rivalry was there. Thomas is still resentful of Jordan to this day.
As James and Curry pair up for the first time toward the end of their legendary careers, it’s actually more about brotherhood.
“The game of basketball don’t last forever,” LeBron James said. “You don’t want to waste the opportunity to be able to have a relationship with someone.”
Losing to Curry and his Warriors three times in four NBA Finals appearances had to sting James. And while he had gotten close with Curry’s teammate, Draymond Green, there was not necessarily a relationship on this front until more recently.
“A lot of y’all maybe grew up in the Bird-Magic era and we shouldn’t like each other, but I’m also aware enough to know that Isiah (Thomas) and Magic hugged and kissed each other on the floor too because it was just mutual respect. They say Michael never talked to any of his opponents, but I’m also smart enough to know that him and Charles (Barkley) had a lot of conversations during the ’93 finals and also played golf against each other. So I don’t want to lose those moments with Curry.”
LeBron James on Stephen Curry
Looking to previous eras is great. Respect those who made it possible for you, right? But the Curry-James rivalry transcends generations. The two have combined for 16 NBA Finals appearances, eight NBA titles, 30 All-Star games, 30 All-NBA teams and six NBA MVP awards. You just can’t make that stuff up.
Youngsters who grew up watching the James-Curry rivalry certainly understand the magnitude of this moment. That includes Team USA point guard Tyrese Haliburton.
“It’s just cool, I’m not going to lie. It’s pretty dope just for me, like when I was a kid, just watching those guys playing the finals every year,” the 24-year-old Haliburton said. “I think the more time I’m around them, the more I’ll hear stories and stuff, and that’ll be really cool because those are things that I probably wondered about when I was 15, 16.”
The two now have a real chance to etch their names in basketball immortality if they can lead the heavily-favored United States to gold in Paris.
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Imagine the scene. Two longtime rivals who will go down as all-time greats sharing a moment of pure joy on the court as they represent a divided nation. It could be their last glory on a basketball court. Doing it together roughly a decade after this rivalry started would be something else.