Four-time NBA champion. Eight-time All-NBA. Two-time scoring champ. Two-time NBA MVP, including the only unanimous selection in league history. All-time leader in 3-pointers made. For any other player, this resumé alone would merit significant consideration as the greatest to ever play basketball.
But for whatever reason, fans, analysts — and especially former players — have consistently neglected to include Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry alongside the usual GOAT candidates of Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain.
Whether it’s because of his cherubic visage, the fact that the majority of his points come from a shot that didn’t exist in the NBA until 1979, or simply the mind-warping reality that he plays unlike any athlete who came before him, Curry has traditionally been seen as an anomaly — a freak with a God-given, superhuman pension for throwing a ball into a hoop, whose immense success is purely the result of rule changes that limit the brutal physicality that would have relegated him to mediocre status in any preceding era.
To a large degree, Curry silenced those critics with his breathtaking performance in the 2022 NBA Finals, which earned him his first Finals MVP trophy — one of the few unattained accolades left to place on his mantle. Since June, critics have been much more willing to place Curry in the pantheon of NBA greats, since he’s rendered it impossible for them not to.
Case in point, Hall of Famer and current TV analyst Shaquille O’Neal recently heaped praise on Curry that seems all too uncommon. On the latest episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” (h/t NBC Sports Bay Area) the former center — completely unprovoked — called Curry “the best player in the world.”
O’Neal was discussing the upcoming NBA season with his “Inside the NBA” co-star Kenny Smith along with his podcast co-hosts, Nischelle Turner and Spice Adams, when the subject of the Western Conference came up. Smith argued that the West could be as powerful as it’s ever been, and O’Neal rebutted by saying that the Warriors should be the outright favorites.
“Nobody’s gonna beat the best player in the world, Steph Curry,” O’Neal said.
When pressed about his statement, O’Neal didn’t hesitate to double down, saying “Yeah, by far. Hell yeah.” He then enumerated his reasons for categorizing Curry at the top of the list of current NBA superstars.
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