With the All-Star Game happening on Sunday, all the NBA’s greatest stars take the court in San Francisco as the league tries out a new format to make things more entertaining. Despite structural changes to the game, it never gets old seeing the rising and solidified stars team up and face off against each other.
However, for stars like Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, this could one of few remaining All-Star Weekends left for them. As both reach the end of their respective careers, it remains to be seen how many more times they will compete with or against each other in All-Star games.
These two legends shared historic battles during the playoffs and NBA Finals, making for some iconic moments in league history. But, they’ve gone from bitter rivals to close friends over the years, becoming particularly close after playing for Team USA in the Olympics this past summer.
James dove deeper in his relationship with Curry and why they did not like each other during their memorable battles in the Finals, via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN:
“I mean, s—, when you’re in a dogfight and there’s one guy that’s trying to stop you from reaching your goals, you’re going to dislike that person,” James told ESPN. “He disliked me, I disliked him because we were both fighting for what the f— we wanted, and that’s the Larry O’Brien Trophy.”
The Warriors star shared the same sentiment, but acknowledged that he always had respect for James despite their battles:
All you think about is just winning,” Curry said. “So, yeah, it was petty. It was competitive. Trash talking. All the above.
“[But] there’s always respect. I didn’t like the player. The person’s always great. You just hate when he has a jersey on wearing No. 23.”
Now that Curry is nearing the finish line, he reflected on what it is like to share unforgettable moments with James throughout the high points of their careers:
“[We talked about] everything that had to go right to be able to celebrate a gold medal,” Curry told ESPN about that conversation with James. “He had experienced it plenty of times before, but it was a little sense of relief, and it was also like this is exactly what we signed up for.
“And the experience, it overdelivered — not just winning the gold, but getting to know each other better. I’ve seen him celebrate championships, he’s seen me celebrate championships. That was kind of cool to do it together.”
At the end of the day, it is nothing but admiration for the two stars and they know that there are not many games left. James is trying to appreciate each moment on the court with or against Curry, including thus weekend in the All-Star game:
“As we get longer in our careers, then you appreciate what that person was able to do for you,” James said. “Because that person motivated you throughout that whole thing. You sit back like, ‘OK, how many more times do we have to go against each other? To have moments?’ When you look back at it, OK, yes, we always went at each other. We still do now.
“But you appreciate the moments even more because you know you don’t have many moments left.”
It is great to see Curry and James’ friendship evolve as time passed and both of their impacts on the game of basketball will never be forgotten. So, hopefully, each remaining matchup between the two gets the flowers it deserves.
LeBron James passes Jamaal Wilkes for 10th on Lakers all-time scoring list
There are not many remaining accolades left for LeBron James as he is in the midst of his 22nd season in the NBA, but he is climbing the Lakers all-time scoring list, recently passing Jamaal Wilkes for 10th on Thursday.
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