Is Stephen Curry's NBA career now on par with LeBron James'?
Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors added a seventh championship — fourth in the last eight years — to their trophy case after defeating the Boston Celtics in six games.
One of the main reasons for Golden State's trek through these playoffs was Stephen Curry and his moments of unstoppable offense, efforts that earned him the NBA Finals MVP award.
Finals MVP was an honor that had been missing from Curry's résumé. Now that he's secured that, is he in the same league as LeBron James?
Colin Cowherd has an opinion on that.
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With Curry snagging his fourth NBA title and first Finals MVP, talks emerge about his superstar and legacy status, including where he lines up with LeBron James on the GOAT list. Does this successful season mean Curry's career is now on par with LeBron's? Colin Cowherd explains why the gap is still too big.
Despite Curry's recent success, there still appears to be a gap between Curry and James if you're looking at their career accolades.
James has four Most Valuable Player awards, Curry has two. They both have four titles, but James won Finals MVP four times, while Curry just has the one. James has gone to the NBA All-Star game 18 times in 19 seasons and has 18 All-NBA selections, while Curry has eight All-Star appearances and eight All-NBA selections in 13 seasons. Additionally, James has six All-Defensive selections while Curry has none.
Cowherd believes the gap between James and Curry is as wide as the gap between Jayson Tatum and Curry.
"The gap between LeBron and Steph is the Grand Canyon," Cowherd said. "A lot of people in movies are movie stars, there's one Tom Cruise."
While Curry isn't on James' level, according to Cowherd, he hasn't played as long as James and still has more winning in his future.
"Barring a bad injury, he's going to age very well. Steph's got three or four more Finals in him," said Cowherd. "He's got the coaching, he has the support system, and he won't have to play as many minutes. Shooters and ball handlers age very, very well."
This season, Curry averaged 25.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game. In the Finals, Curry averaged 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game and shot 48.2% from the field and 43.7% from 3.
With those facts, is Stephen Curry allowed in the same room as LeBron James?