NBA star Steph Curry lists the best five players of his generation.
Undoubtedly, one of the greatest players of his generation is Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, but how trustworthy is he when compiling his own list of the best?
This kind of thing has happened previously. NBA players create all-time lists, which often have strange aesthetics. Curry produced his rankings despite his concern that they would be viewed in the same light by others.
LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and himself are on Curry’s list of the best five players of his era, which he listed while being joined by his father, former NBA star Dell Curry, on their “Heat Check” podcast. You’re going to miss someone every time you do this, and people are going to exclaim, ‘Oh my God, he left him off the list?'” How could he have known? “This guy is ignorant of basketball.” As stated by Curry (via Doric Sam of Bleacher Report).
To be really honest, that is not something that should be said of Steph’s list. It hasn’t really got any ridiculous names on it, and it’s actually pretty decent. Along with Anthony Davis and his Warriors colleague Klay Thompson, he also included Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis as honorable mentions.
Does this mean that Stephen Curry and the Warriors will no longer exist as we know them?
In a play-in game, the Sacramento Kings thoroughly defeated the Warriors, who had won 46 games this season. It shouldn’t have been shocking to see Golden State lose to the Kings given what we’ve seen from them the whole season. The Dubs finished 44-38 in the previous campaign and lost to the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs.
Sure, the Warriors are three seasons away from winning their fourth NBA championship with Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Curry, but that championship felt like the team’s last gasp at this time. This offseason, Thompson will become a free agent, and there’s a good chance he won’t return to the Dubs for the upcoming year. Both he and Green are obviously in decline, and their combined influence is not quite what it was a few years ago.
Even Curry, who is still very good, appears to be declining. While he did average 26.4 points per game this season on 45.0/40.8/92.3 shooting splits, his win share average per 48 minutes was just.142, the lowest since his 2010–11 second NBA season. Even if his true-shooting percentage of 61.6 percent is well off his best, when he was consistently averaging over 65 percent in that category, he is still incredibly efficient.
It’s evident that the Warriors are getting older, and up-and-coming young teams in the Western Conference might be displacing them.
Without a question, Golden State had an incredible run. Between 2015 and 2022, it made six trips to the NBA Finals and won four titles. During that time, Curry won back-to-back MVP trophies. Still, it seems as though the Warriors dynasty is coming to an end. Next season, we’ll find out what happens to Steph and company.