This era of NBA basketball has largely been defined by three players: Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant. Only Curry has stayed on one team throughout his career, but battles between the three — and with two of them on the same team — never lost their intensity as Durant and LeBron switched teams.
Now, on Christmas Day 2024, the James-Curry-Durant era is slowly dwindling to an end. LeBron has spoken about retirement many times, Curry made his first comments on the matter recently and Durant is not far behind. But all three are still elite on the floor, and they’ll have another chance to show it with all of their teams playing on Christmas Day.
Prior to their Christmas Day games — James and Curry against one another — the three sat down for an interview in which they discussed what attribute they would want to take from each other, via the NBA:
Which attributes would they take from one another? 🤔
LeBron, Steph & KD… an exclusive interview with 3 NBA OGs playing this #NBAXmas on ABC & ESPN! pic.twitter.com/e0WkBLNJdf
— NBA (@NBA) December 25, 2024
James went with Durant’s pull-up hesi to the left. Durant has had arguably the deadliest pull-up jumper in the history of basketball, and while LeBron has always been efficient in that realm, it doesn’t match what Durant is able to do.
From there, Durant took the famed quick release of Curry. The greatest 3-point shooter of all-time is best known for the way he can shoot the ball with perfect form under any duress because of how quickly he’s able to release the ball. Durant with that quickness of release would be almost comically unguardable.
Finally, Curry took the entirety of LeBron’s IQ. Undoubtedly, James is one of the smartest players to ever play the game and is one of the best floor generals in league history. Curry can control a game with his off-ball movement and shooting, but has not been able to completely control the tempo of all 10 players the way LeBron has.
The best part about this interview is the amount of pure respect that these three players have for each other, even after over a decade of hard-fought battles on the court.
Stephen Curry addresses teaming up with LeBron James
The rivalry between LeBron James and Stephen Curry has been going on for nearly a decade. And now another chapter is set to take place when the Lakers and Warriors square off on Christmas Day.
The majority of this rivalry took place when James was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, meeting the Warriors in four consecutive NBA Finals from 2015-to-2018. But there have been some moments since LeBron has joined the Lakers as well, including an incredibly fierce second-round playoff matchup in 2023 in which the Lakers ousted Curry’s Warriors in six games.
The respect between the two has always been there, but became even more present this past summer as the two were teammates on Team USA and had outstanding chemistry together in leading the team to a Gold Medal at the Olympics. This of course led to many wondering if the two would ever team up on an NBA court, but Curry said it’s highly unlikely, though he didn’t necessarily say it won’t happen.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
