Steph Curry is eighth greatest player ever, Broussard claims
What a difference a night can make.
Coming into Thursday, Steph Curry seemed to be hovering near immortality as one of the top 10 players in NBA history.
And after winning his fourth title, Chris Broussard hovered Curry straight to No. 8.
"He's the only small player that has ever been the centerpiece of a full dynasty, in the history of basketball," Broussard said on Friday's "First Things First."
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Chris Broussard believes that Steph Curry belongs among the greatest players in NBA history now that he's won four titles in the LeBron James era.
First, Broussard laid out his criteria for a top-10 player all time.
"In a game where everybody is playing different positions, it's not a checklist of skills," he said. "If it was a checklist of skills, Aaron Rodgers would be better than Tom Brady. …. It's not who's gonna win a game of one-on-one.
"It is about obviously the stats, the accomplishments, but also the impact. The impact that you have on winning. And no one can deny that Steph Curry has a tremendous impact on winning, in addition to changing the game as the best shooter ever. And I think one of the top five ballhandlers ever."
Curry surely has the stats and the accomplishments and then some.
In addition to being a four-time champion, he's a Finals MVP, two-time regular-season MVP, eight-time All-Star, four-time first-team All-NBA selection, two-time NBA scoring champion, NBA 75th Anniversary Team member, and his 3,117 3-pointers are by far the most in league history.
For that reason, Broussard's top 10, in order, is Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Curry, Shaquille O'Neal and Bill Russell.
Broussard also added that Curry has done all of this damage in the past 13 years — all while James has been the face of the NBA.
"[Curry] is playing in the LeBron James era and he's got four rings. We can run off a list of a host of superstars that never won rings because of Michael Jordan. … He's beaten LeBron, and [Kevin Durant], more than they've beaten him."
Curry's top 10 status is not the consensus quite yet. On Friday, Nick Wright slotted Curry at 12th, saying it was "unfathomable" for Broussard to exclude Hakeem Olajuwon and Wilt Chamberlain from his top 10.
And on Friday's "Undisputed," Skip Bayless laid out his top 10, which included (in order) Jordan, Johnson, O'Neal, Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan, Russell, Bryant, Bird, James and Chamberlain.
"He has revolutionized the game in the regular season. And as much as he can steal the basketball, he can be a liability on defense. Do we have anybody else in the top 10 who is a liability defense?"
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Skip Bayless list his top 10 players of all time and explains why Steph Curry is still not among the game's greatest.
Whether he's top 10 or not, one thing is for sure: Curry, at this point, is at least in the conversation.