Has Stephen Curry taken over Magic Johnson or Kobe Bryant as the top-5 players of all time? Not quite yet.
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The end of the 2021-22 season has sealed Stephen Curry’s legacy as one of the NBA’s greatest ever. The 8x All-Star broke Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record, led his team to their 4th championship, won finally won his long-awaited first Finals MVP award.
The Chef also put a fitting end to the debate that the Warriors were carried by Kevin Durant to the 2017 and 2018 championships and were incapable of winning without him. But you know the Internet, before one hype train leaves the station another one arrives.
From questioning both his ‘declining basketball skills’ and leadership to crowing him as the GOAT point guard or a top-5 player of all time, it seems as if social media travelled a longer distance than the Warriors themselves who took 2-years to get back at the top after their 2019 Finals loss and the injuries pertained that and the following year.
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There is a Hall of Fame career between the achievements of Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry
It is the way how we humans behave. We have got to be on the extreme ends, there is no in between. In declaring Curry as the best point guard and Top-5 player of all time, we are not just dethroning Magic Johnson pointlessly but also demoting either him or Kobe Bryant from the top 5.
I am not saying that Curry doesn’t deserve to be there, just that we can have an argument about him getting there maybe after he wins another title. As of now, there is a whole Hall of Fame career between his achievements to that of Kobe Bryant.
The difference between Kobe and Steph:
1x NBA Champion
1x Finals MVP
10x All-Star
7x All-NBA
12x All-DefenseA Hall of Fame career. pic.twitter.com/Yq3P49ivFe
— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 19, 2022
It would be totally unfair if The Mamba or Magic at this point in time would have to give their hypothetical rank up to Curry who is just fresh off of doing some amazing things.
Sure, the top-10s and top-5s are just imaginary rankings based on perspectives but we still hesitate to touch some names like Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in our rankings.
Kobe and Magic should also be left alone for now. When the time comes and Curry is a clear better player than those two or anyone else in the top-5 we will be eager to welcome the baby-faced assassin into the mix.