This year and the previous year have been probably one of the most exciting years to basketball fans thanks to two star players in NBA, National Basketball Association. The league has not one, but two legendary players these days: Lebron James and Stephen Curry. The NBA boom featuring the two stars hit my school as well, and I found myself watching and talking about the games with my friends every day.
The center of the discussion on NBA, definitely, has been the rivalry relation between Curry and James. Even media have been debating over this for a long time, yet a decision has not been made. Thereby I took an initiative to interview two of my classmates—huge NBA fans—so that I could draw my own conclusion based on the talk.
Q.What do you think about this rivalry relation?
A: Watching NBA got more interesting thanks to this, as fun as watching the US primaries. Comparing two different players, each has distinct advantages and disadvantages, is interesting. Also, I enjoy hearing what others are saying. Even I get to see people having a quarrel on this matter
B: I agree. Sometimes I am the one who is engaged in that argument.
Q. Who do you think is the better player?
A: Personally this is a hard question, but I would go for Stephen Curry since Curry’s 3 pointers are very impressive.
B: Lebron is better in every way possible. Stephen is injured now. What is he going to do?
A: You’re only saying that because Stephen Curry’s team “The Warriors” destroyed your fan team “The Clippers” and The Clippers have never won the Warriors with an exception of once during this season.
B: So Funny. Everyone knows that Lebron is better because of his leggit skills. He scores 25 points per game on average in this season.
Q. Contribution to the team is crucial in basketball. Who do you think contributes more to the team?
A: Stephen Curry. His team is ranked at the first place in Western Conference of NBA.
B: Same for Lebron. His team is on the top in the Eastern Conference of NBA.
A: I know, but the Warriors have the largest win-loss ratio as of now. Plus, the average score made by Curry per game is higher by 5 points than that of James.
B: But Lebron makes more points during his overall season average, along with rebounds and blocks.
Q.Curry and James are both thriving these days, and thus they are getting a lot of attention. Then how about their post-retirement days? Who would be remembered as the better player in the future?
A: It’s hard to predict the future, but if Curry manages to show notable performances persistently, as fascinating as they are now, he would be remembered as the legend, even greater than James.
B: Lebron James, because of his participation to 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Plus, he has taken part in ‘All star seasons’ for twelve times, an aching record Stephen Curry would hardly be able to break.
The heated debate ended. It was truly hard to choose one side, yet I have come to a conclusion. I would go for Lebron because Stephen Curry has only been in the NBA for 6 seasons while Lebron has performed there for 12 seasons. Also, we’ll never know what will happen. Stephen might as well wane just like ‘one hit wonder musicians’ while if the same tragedy happens to Lebron, he would still be assessed as a legendary player on par with Michael Jordan thanks to his long and strong career. Overall, I believe the rivalry between the two stars would continue, and more and more people would voice up to advocate either one of them. It may also be amusing to observe how this debate goes after the two athletes finish their career; who would be the true legend among the next generation basketball fans.
Matthew Choi
Grade 8
Asia Pacific International School