Steph Curry didn't hesitate when picking between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant for best-ever NBA forward

LeBron James or Kobe Bryant might be a hard decision for some - but not for Steph Curry.

The Golden State Warriors superstar has had a perceived rivalry with LeBron since 2015, when the pair met in the NBA finals for four successive seasons when James was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Warriors won three of those meetings but each player has four NBA Championship rings so far in their historic careers.

LeBron himself insisted there isn’t a rivalry between the pair, and the two recently teamed up to help Team USA win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Curry still doesn’t regard LeBron as the NBA’s greatest forward.

In fact, while he eventually picked Kobe Bryant as the small forward for his all time starting five, he initially named Larry Bird in the position, not LeBron, before changing his mind and picking Kobe.

Curry’s starting five is predictably stacked with basketball greats.

Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the sport’s GOAT, is in at shooting guard, while his preferred center is Shaquille O’Neal.

Steph also picked Tim Duncan at power forward, and Magic Johnson as his point guard.

Interestingly, Curry did not pick himself to be part of the star-studded team. Steph is widely regarded as the greatest shooter of all time, but he went for Magic Johnson to fill his own position.

Stephen Curry's all-time starting 5:

PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Michael Jordan
SF: Kobe Bryant
PF: Tim Duncan
C: Shaquille O’Nealpic.twitter.com/3ZLeMPZ1wy

— Steph Curry Muse (@StephMuse_) July 23, 2023

When asked in a light-hearted interview who was the better player out of himself and LeBron, Curry picked himself.

And in the same interview, he backed himself over Kobe, Duncan and even Jordan.

But in his more serious moments, the 36-year-old Curry admits it’s impossible to choose because of the difficulty of comparing players in different NBA eras.

He said: "I ascribe to the mindset that there are multiple GOATs.

"And I hate that, it's not a cop-out answer, but it's so hard to compare eras.

"And getting into that conversation of 'oh if you put Michael in this era or if you put LeBron in that era,' it's kind of unfair. It's a great barbershop debate, and it's something that'll never stop until the end of time.”