LeBron James is widely regarded as the best player of his era, but Paul Pierce believes Stephen Curry will surpass him with another title. On Thursday’s episode of Speak, Pierce stated a fifth title would put Curry in the conversation with Michael Jordan.
“If Steph Curry wins the championship or one more championship, gets the Finals MVP, we are going to have some very, very, very, very uncomfortable conversations,” Pierce said. “You know why? Because that’s going to mean, in the LeBron era, he would’ve won his fifth title with pretty much three different squads.
“The pre-[Kevin Durant], the KD, and the after KD,” Pierce stated. “Three of those championships he would’ve won without a top 75 player. In my eyes, he would’ve won this era with LeBron. So then that tells me, is he greater than LeBron? He won the era. In the LeBron era, five chips. In the LeBron era, a unanimous MVP.
“That got to hold some kind of weight,” Pierce continued. “It’s never been done. If we’re talking about Bron as the greatest player, and a player in your era in any year you were in your prime, won unanimously without you getting a vote. It’s going to shake something up. We going to start putting Steph up there with Michael Jordan.
“Seriously, if he wins one more,” Pierce added. “Think about that. He wins the era. In the LeBron era. Whose era is this? LeBron, KD, and Curry. This is that era, right? He gets five championships, and Bron stays with four, and a unanimous MVP, it’s going to get real uncomfortable, I promise you.”
A fifth championship would certainly see Curry climb up the all-time rankings, but would it get him over James? Let’s have a look at their resumes, as of now.
Curry has won four titles, a Finals MVP, two MVPs, and two scoring titles in his career. The 37-year-old has made 11 All-Star and 10 All-NBA teams, and is the league’s all-time leader in threes made.
James, meanwhile, has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title. The 40-year-old has made 21 All-Star, 20 All-NBA, and six All-Defensive teams, and is the league’s all-time leading scorer.
Does another championship and Finals MVP for Curry push him ahead of James? Probably not. His resume would, in fact, look quite similar to that of Kobe Bryant’s. Bryant won five titles, two Finals MVPs, an MVP, and two scoring titles in his storied career.
Apart from some former players, there aren’t too many who would rank Bryant over James despite his winning another title. So, Curry winning a fifth championship doesn’t necessarily mean he’d surpass James.
Pierce isn’t the only one to think along these lines, though. Matt Barnes also wondered what another title for Curry would mean for James.
As for talks about Curry belonging in the same conversation as Jordan with another championship, he needs to add more to his resume for that.
Jordan won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, a DPOY, and 10 scoring titles in his career. He also made 14 All-Star, 11 All-NBA, and nine All-Defensive teams. Curry has a lot of work to do to have a resume comparable to Jordan’s, and winning another title this year would be a good start.
