LeBron James made his feelings clear on whether he considers Steph Curry a rival

LeBron James and Stephen Curry have gone head to head in numerous battles for NBA supremacy over the years.

Between 2015 and 2018, James' Cleveland Cavaliers and Curry's Golden State Warriors contested four consecutive NBA Finals.

Curry and the Warriors came out on top overall in those meetings, winning the championship three times.

But the pair both boast four career title triumphs, while James edges the three-point king when it comes to Most Valuable Player awards, with four wins to Curry's two.

Steph Curry and LeBron James hit a celebration during France vs. USA. Image: Getty

They are widely regarded as the two players who have defined and era in the NBA. And yet, despite the fact that they have faced off for basketball's top prize so many times, James does not consider Curry to be a rival.

“I don’t have a rivalry with Steph Curry," the current LA Lakers star said when asked about the matter ahead of yet another Finals showdown back in 2017.

"There’s no way you can say ‘let’s talk about rivalries’ and you say Bird and Magic, Carolina-Duke, Ohio State-Michigan, and then say LeBron and Steph.

“It’s disrespectful to those other three that I just named that you would even try to put us in the class with that. We haven’t had enough battles, and who’s to say we’ll have future battles? We’ll see, but to put us in a category with [them], it’s impossible. You can’t do it.”

Now in his 22nd NBA season, James has established a legacy that sees him widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

The former Miami Heat hero is the NBA's highest-ever scorer and this season – alongside his eldest son, Bronny, who was drafted by the Lakers earlier this year – became part of the first father-son duo in the league's history.

Curry, meanwhile, won his most recent championship in 2022 and is hailed as the greatest shooter in NBA history, revolutionising the way the game is played with his three-point prowess.

More recently, the superstar pair have been team-mates, starring together as Team USA won the basketball gold medal at the 2024 Olympics.