Nothing is bigger than Stephen Curry vs LeBron James

Sopan Deb
Tim Hardaway knows stars when he sees them. Hardaway, a Hall of Fame point guard, battled against his share of them, including Michael Jordan, during a 14-year NBA career.
So when he sees Stephen Curry and LeBron James encountering each other yet again in the NBA playoffs, only one comparison comes to mind.
“Michael Jackson and Prince,” Hardaway said. “You must see that. That’s how big of a star they are. They command the crowd.”
James, with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Curry, with the Golden State Warriors, have the attention of the basketball world in the Western Conference semifinals. It’s not the biggest stage, like when they faced off in four straight NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018, as James played for Cleveland. But in the NBA, any stage they are on is the biggest one. Together and apart, they have for a generation defined a league whose individual stars can determine a team’s fate and shift the broader culture more than stars in other team sports can.
A playoff series headlined Curry and James is the basketball equivalent of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles touring together. Or Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, except with a touch more gray and way more mutual respect. Or, in basketball terms, this is Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird in the 1980s.
But this year’s matchup is especially significant. James, at 38, and Curry, at 35, are nearing the end of careers that have revolutionized basketball, with no clear heirs to continue the progression. Curry’s mastery of the 3-pointer ushered in a new era of long-dance shooting as a primary offensive attack, at all basketball levels. James, a powerful 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, has been nearly impossible to duplicate physically, but he changed the way basketball stars viewed their own ability to bend teams to their will and create political and social capital for themselves off the floor.
The Los Angeles LakersÕ LeBron James before Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinal against the Golden State Warriors, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, May 4, 2023. The WarriorsÕ Stephen Curry and the LakersÕ LeBron James, two players who Ñ both together and apart Ñ have redefined a generation of basketball, are meeting in the playoffs for perhaps the last time. (Clara Mokri for The New York Times)
Their playoff matchup this year may be the last time fans see two basketball players of this level of influence competing against each other in the postseason, which may be why ticket prices are breaking records for a non-championship series.
“What is it going to be like when those two guys — obviously two of the biggest names in the league, if not the biggest — are gone?” said Dell Curry, Stephen Curry’s father and a former NBA player. “I think the league is very healthy as far as star power, but who takes the lead in that role?”
For much of the past two decades, James and Curry have been the NBA’s largest draws, generating revenue through television ratings, sponsorships, and jersey and ticket sales. In 2009, when Golden State drafted Curry, Forbes estimated that the team was worth $315 million — the 18th most valuable NBA franchise. Last year, after Curry led the team to its fourth championship in eight years, Golden State was ranked No. 1 with an eye-popping $7 billion valuation.
Tamika Tremaglio, the executive director of the NBA players union, said in an email that Curry and James “have fueled economic prosperity in the cities they play in.”
“From an equity standpoint, our players are powerful, and Steph Curry and LeBron James are living proof of that truth,” Tremaglio said.
New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, the president of the players union, said, “What they’ve done is astronomical to our game in terms of viewership, in terms of globalizing the game.” He added, “Our league is in a better place because of it.”
James’ presence has been a boon at each stop in his career, from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat and now to Los Angeles. He has become a symbol of modern fandom, in which many fans follow players and not teams. And Curry, whose pregame shooting routines draw even opposing teams’ fans, has shown how transcendent talent can test even the staunchest loyalties.
“The basketball impact is like every kid especially that is coming into the league now, those are the two guys you want to be like,” said guard Isaiah Thomas, who has played with James and had to defend Curry. “I’ve seen younger guys come in the league and be in awe of these guys, and they’re competing against them.”
Stephen Curry after his Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinal, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, May 4, 2023. The WarriorsÕ Stephen Curry and the LakersÕ LeBron James, two players who Ñ both together and apart Ñ have redefined a generation of basketball, are meeting in the playoffs for perhaps the last time. (Clara Mokri for The New York Times)
Jamal Crawford, who recently retired after two decades in the NBA, said Curry’s physique — 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds — made him seem like he was like “the boy next door” compared to bigger athletes.
“He’s the guy — the kid — that every kid can look up to and say, ‘You know what? If I work hard on my game, if I work on my skills, if I believe in myself, I can accomplish unbelievable things,’” said Crawford, now a TNT analyst. “If you look at LeBron, you say, ‘Wow, he is a force of nature, something we’ve never seen before.’”
Since they last met in the NBA Finals in 2018, Curry and James have expanded their influence on the culture. Curry spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and James endorsed Joe Biden for president that year and launched a voting rights group. They have been outspoken against gun violence, and Curry has helped with public health outreach during the coronavirus pandemic. James is the first active NBA player to become a billionaire. And through production companies — James’ SpringHill Co. and Curry’s Unanimous Media — both players have found opportunities to bolster their legacies, perhaps veering into hagiography.
The documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated,” directed Peter Nicks and coproduced Unanimous Media, debuted at the San Francisco International Film Festival last month and will stream on Apple TV+ in July. Curry, a top-10 draft pick out of Davidson, has won two MVP awards — one unanimous vote, for the only time in NBA hory. To get there, he struggled through ankle injuries early in his career, but he is now widely considered the best shooter ever.
The Los Angeles LakersÕ LeBron James before Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinal against the Golden State Warriors, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, May 4, 2023. The WarriorsÕ Stephen Curry and the LakersÕ LeBron James, two players who Ñ both together and apart Ñ have redefined a generation of basketball, are meeting in the playoffs for perhaps the last time. (Clara Mokri for The New York Times)
In June, SpringHill, James’ company, is releasing the feature film “Shooting Stars” on Peacock, based on his high school team, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. It is an adaptation of a 2009 book James and Buzz Bissinger.
The projects underscore the two players’ vastly different paths to stardom. James was already a sought-after star as a teenager. Sonny Vaccaro, a former shoe marketing executive, once flew James out to a Lakers playoff game in a private plane from Adidas while he was in high school. James was enthralled, recounted Jeff Benedict, who recently released an independent biography of James titled “LeBron.” He said James had long understood that “basketball isn’t just a sport.”
“It’s like show business,” Benedict said. “It’s a very high form of public entertainment in the United States.”
The cultural impact of Curry and James has also rippled out to the theater in independent plays unaffiliated with the stars. This summer, Inua Ellams, a playwright based in Britain, will debut a play called “The Half-God of Rainfall” at the New York Theater Workshop. The plot combines mythology and basketball: A half-god comes to Earth and becomes the biggest star in the NBA. Ellams, a longtime NBA fan, said the character is loosely based on Curry and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Stephen Curry after his Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinal, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, May 4, 2023. The WarriorsÕ Stephen Curry and the LakersÕ LeBron James, two players who Ñ both together and apart Ñ have redefined a generation of basketball, are meeting in the playoffs for perhaps the last time. (Clara Mokri for The New York Times)
Ellams said the NBA will feel a “cavernous” loss when Curry and James are gone. In February, James broke the league’s career scoring record, which had been held Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since 1984. Last season, Curry broke Ray Allen’s career 3-pointer record in 511 fewer games.
“It’s going to be half a century before anyone comes close to what they have done — what they are actively doing,” Ellams said. “This isn’t hory in the making. This is punching holes out of mountains.”
James is in his 20th season, far past the time when most players’ careers are over. He and Curry, in his 14th season, have staved off the need for the NBA to fully transition into a new era of stardom. But those in and around the league are bullish about its future.
“There’s always a next, even though we can’t see it,” said Candace Parker, one of the most accomplished players in WNBA hory.
She added, “That’s what we asked ourselves after Michael Jordan retired. After Magic and Bird retired. It just seems like there’s always that next coming.”
Parker, who plays for the Las Vegas Aces and is an NBA analyst on TNT, cited players like Antetokounmpo, Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Victor Wembanyama, the French prodigy expected to go first in this year’s NBA draft, as possible torch carriers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.