Stephen Curry recently breached the four thousand career threes mark, becoming the first athlete to do so. This exceptional achievement had the NBA Countdown panel raving about the Warriors superstar. While Bob Myers praised the 37-year-old for his shot-making abilities, claiming that “there is no bad shot for Steph Curry,” Kendrick Perkins, though, took it a step further. Perkins scoffed at Myers’ praise for the man who created the Warriors dynasty.
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From there, the former NBA star took over the conversation, raining praise on Steph for everything he has done in the game. He also claimed that the four-time NBA Champion is “The greatest point guard of all time.”
He said, “We talk about those four thousand points and it impacting his legacy. Think about what he did to the league. It changed the NBA, it changed basketball forever.”
Perkins also outlined some undeniable honors for Steph: the best shooter, one of the most skilled, and top five in handles and finishing. Every claim went uncontested, except for the greatest PG.
But Stephen A. Smith took offense at Perkins using Steph’s milestone to crown him with the title. Questioning his premise and claim, Smith reminded everyone that Magic Johnson is still the greatest PG.
Smith claimed, “You don’t have the license to cheat the audience the way you just did…You wanna call him the greatest point guard that ever lived when Magic Johnson is right in this city?”
Stephen A. listed out the things Magic was exceptional at as a traditional point guard, “You listen to them [Eddie Johnson and NBA Radio] talk about Magic Johnson being a facilitator, getting others involved, that quintessential description of a point guard that belongs to Magic Johnson.”
The media veteran passionately defended Magic’s legacy as the greatest PG. This is something he has done before as well. In 2023, when Steph called himself the greatest PG ever during a conversation with Gilbert Arenas, Smith jumped on his show to disagree with the statement.
He even received a text from MJ regarding the debate and read it out loud for fans on First Take. “Although greatest of anything is always a debate, I beg to differ on greatest point guard of all-time… Magic Johnson is easily the best point guard of all time. Steph Curry is very close, but not in front of Magic,” Jordan said in his text.
Magic also defended his legacy as the GOAT of that position. On CBS Sports, the Lakers legend separated himself from Steph on numbers and accomplishments.
“If he got more than 5 [NBA] championships, if he got more than three Finals MVPs and three league MVPs, then he’s the greatest, is he? If he got more than, you know, number one in assists all-time in the Finals, number two in double-doubles, number one in triple-doubles… If he got more than all those things, then he’s the best,” Magic said.
Needless to say, when it comes to just the resume, Magic Johnson has the upper hand. However, these discussions can’t be dictated by championships and statistics alone.
At the end of the day, the debate in itself is so arbitrary that there is no real answer. So instead of indulging in these debates, it is better to just accept the greatness of Steph and Magic without undermining either.
