Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
Topics: NBA, Basketball, Michael Jordan, Steph Curry
Ryan Baldi
Steph Curry is one of the most decorated NBA players of all time.
The Golden State Warriors icon has won four NBA titles, two Most Valuable Player awards and is regarded as the greatest shooter ever to play the game thanks to his otherworldly prowess from behind the three-point line.
Many feel the 37-year-old point guard deserves to be discussed alongside the likes of Michael Jordan and LeBron James the greatest NBA player of all time.
And when Curry was asked in 2015 – as the Warriors were en route their first title with the former Davidson Wildcat in the backcourt – whether unseating Jordan as the GOAT was one of his aims, he offered a blunt and honest reply.
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"Is going down as the GOAT in your mind's eye, or do you just go in conceding that title due to the presence of one Michael Jordan?" Curry was asked in an interview for ESPN The Magazine.
"It's a high mountain to climb," the Warriors superstar responded, "but I'm pretty motivated to take on the challenge. Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way."
"So you are trying to top MJ as the greatest of all time?" the reported followed up.
"Yeah," Curry said bluntly. "Why else would I be playing? You want to be the best you can be. And if the best you can be is better than him, then why not? That's good motivation."
In 2019, Jordan was asked who he'd rather face in a one-against-one match-up, Curry or LeBron James. The NBA GOAT backed himself to get the better of both players, but argued he'd have had less difficulty with the Golden State icon due to his size.
"Well, I'd go against Stephen Curry because I'm a little bit bigger than him so I could back him in, but LeBron's a little bit too big," Jordan said.
"If I was in my prime, could I beat LeBron in a one-on-one game? No question. And he's going to say no question. [Curry] is a great player. Not a Hall of Famer yet, though. He's not."
Curry was later asked about Jordan's claim that he had not yet secured a place in basketball's Hall of Fame.
"I think I’m good, but then I’m never complacent," he told Matt Welty during an interview for Sole Collector.
"I know I have more to prove to myself. When you hear a guy like that, who’s the greatest of all time, it’s kind of funny.
"Since we’ve been on this stage, we’ve heard a lot of retired guys chiming in on this generation of basketball players and evaluating talent and saying their generation was better and all that.
"It’s a great conversation for the fans to get in on.
"I know I’m in good shape for that, but I still have a lot to prove to myself."
Since that interview, Curry has added a fourth NBA championship, a first Finals MVP award, an Olympic gold medal and the accolade of being the first player ever to make 4,000 three-pointers to his unquestionably Hall of Fame-worthy résumé.