Is Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry one of the top-10 NBA players of all time? His accolades should tilt the argument in his favor: 11-time NBA All-Star, 4 NBA championships, 2 MVPs, 2-time NBA scoring champion, 2-time NBA 3-point contest champion. But who’s arguing against it?
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In the 16 years he has spent with the Warriors — his whole professional career — Curry has averaged 24.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. His shooting stats are even more insane. In the 1,026 games he’s played so far, Curry averages 47.1% while shooting from the field and 42.3% from the 3-point range.
It turns out, however, that NBA Hall of Famer and former Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t believe Curry warrants a place in his top-10 NBA players of all time. To be fair, Shaq’s list is impressive, to say the least.
Shaq shared his rankings on X. He featured Dr. J at 10 and Michael Jordan at 1. Names like Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird and LeBron James, among others, rounded out the remainder.
Can Curry really not find a place among those elite? His omission seems especially odd, since the former Heat star has time and again claimed the GS guard is one of the greats and his favorites?
In a March conversation on NBA on TNT, O’Neal said, “I demand you fans start putting Steph Curry in that greatest of all time conversation … I played against Mike, played with Kobe, played against and with LeBron. They’re all great, but at some point, we’re going to have to put Steph Curry in that category.”
What changed? Perhaps Shaq could answer it best because he has often professed his love for Curry over the years. He even went so far as to claim that if Curry had played during his time, he would have let Steph score off him.
During an appearance on CONAN on TBS, host Conan O’Brien put Shaq on the spot. He asked him if it were true that “back in the day,” O’Neal would let certain players score on him because he respected their game so much.
Shaq responded, “Let’s say, Tracy McGrady is going against Kobe. I say, ‘Okay, Tracy McGrady, two or three plays, let me see what you’ve got.’ … Allen Iverson was another guy … I’ll be like, ‘Kobe, guard him or D Fischer, guard him.’ … Only time I didn’t do that was when I was in playoff mode.”
“Even though I am a player, there are a lot of guys I really respect and I am fan of, mostly guards. So if I were playing now, I would let Steph Curry score all the time. I love his game. He’s my favorite player,” Shaq admitted.
You have to wonder, did Shaq simply forget to add Steph to the list? Or is the list so strong on its own that Curry simply doesn’t stand a chance?
