The NBA has suffered a lot of changes in the past decade, including the pace of games, the way basketball is played and even the most valuable shot of all with the three-pointer taking over progressively.
However, one thing that didn’t change from 2011 through 2020 is the name of two players who led their teams to the NBA Finals, becoming the best ballers in the league in the last nine years with their respective squads. LeBron James and Stephen Curry are, without any hesitation, the most influential players of the last decade and they shared a curious stat that is just impressive.
Famous Twitter account “@MjsGoat” pointed out a very interesting fact for LeBron and Curry. Either of them and sometimes both played in the NBA Finals for the last nine years.
- 2011: LeBron
- 2012: LeBron
- 2013: LeBron
- 2014: LeBron
- 2015: LeBron – Curry
- 2016: LeBron – Curry
- 2017: LeBron – Curry
- 2018: LeBron – Curry
- 2019: Curry
- 2020: LeBron
https://twitter.com/MjsGoat/status/1351192094002597897
LeBron took the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals for four straight years, winning two titles (2012 and 2013) and losing two series (2011 and 2014). The King then re-joined his Cleveland Cavaliers and went to the Finals for four more straight years, winning one title (2016) and losing three.
In those four Finals, he faced Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, who beat LeBron in three Finals, becoming one of the best teams in the league in the process. Curry won in 2015, 2017 and 2018. He took his Warriors to the Finals in 2019 but Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors ruined their plans.
Last year, LeBron “preserved the tradition” with the Los Angeles Lakers, playing in his 10th NBA Finals and winning his 4th NBA Championship. James seems ready to repeat this season with the Lakers being inspired in the first games of the season.
Curry and the Warriors are struggling to get the results, making things hard for them this season. They’re not the same team that dominated Bron in the Finals and that really shows right now.
