The History of LeBron James and Stephen Curry’s Rivalrous Friendship

LeBron James and Stephen Curry’s relationship status is complicated. We get to witness their rollercoaster rivalry yet again tonight during the NBA’s Play-In Tournament as the Lakers and Warriors fight for the 7th seed in the Western Conference. LeBron and Steph have a lot in common: They were born at the same hospital in Akron, Ohio, and they’re the two most successful, influential, and famous basketball players of the last decade. James went to eight straight finals and made a case as the best ever, while Curry changed the way basketball is played and led a Warriors dynasty to three titles in four years.

For their first few years in the league, LeBron and Steph admired each others’ games from afar, but four straight years of battling in the Finals over titles, legacy, and intangible status as the face of the NBA seemed to reveal some underlying tensions. Now LeBron is gushing over Steph again, calling him the MVP of this season (an award that is almost certain to go to Nikola Jokic)—just as, coincidentally, Steph’s contract-extension summer looms.

March 2008: LeBron sits front row at Davidson’s March Madness match-up to watch Steph play. Game recognizes game, and a friendship blossoms.

Stephen Curry: “My sophomore year, LeBron came to the Sweet Sixteen game we [Davidson] had against Wisconsin, because he happened to be in Detroit at the same time.” [GQ]

Curry: "It's very cool for him to be here." [ESPN]

James: “I saw a kid who didn’t care how big someone was, how fast someone else was, how strong someone else was. He just went out and played. He wasn’t going to let anything, as far as the analytics when it comes to size, power, strength, speed, stop him from what he was able to do. It was great to see someone like that who doesn’t get caught up in people going after guys who can jump higher and run faster and run through a wall harder and things like that.” [Washington Post]

Curry: “Then, a few days later, after we had been knocked out of the NCAA tournament, the Bobcats were playing the Cavs in Charlotte. I drove down to the game and talked to him a little bit, and that's where it all started.” [GQ]

December 2008: LeBron watches Steph play against N.C. State in Charlotte before his Cavaliers faced the Bobcats. LeBron, as is his wont, mentions Steph’s status as the star on an otherwise flawed team to throw some subtle shade towards the Cavs front office. (Also: text messages!)

Curry: "He texted me this morning, saying good luck. He said he was going to try to come to the game, but I didn't expect him to come." [ESPN]

James on Curry’s game-decisive 3-pointer: "He had just a little bit of room and you can't give him too much room."

Curry: "I stared at him after and then I pointed at him. Then my teammates came and we all went back to the bench. There was a little excitement."

James: “He’s one of those players in basketball right now, period, that you get somebody out to go watch. He’s a really good talent. Not taking anything away from that school, but their team isn’t the best. But he makes those guys play hard and they compete every last game they’re in, even against teams people say they shouldn’t be. I can relate to that.”

James: "After the game he texted me saying, ‘Thanks for coming.’ It was fun to watch. It was a really good game."

June 2009: Steph goes no. 7 in the NBA Draft to the Golden State Warriors. Even though LeBron recognized Steph’s talent early, he does not anticipate just how much of a phenomenon he would turn out to be.

James: “Steph is a guy who can create for himself and also for others with his passing ability. He’s like a Rip Hamilton in our league. He never stops moving. Those types of players, they’re hard to guard. No matter how big you are, guys in the NBA don’t want to continue to chase guys like that.” [The Charlotte Observer]

November 2009: Rookie Steph plays against LeBron for the first time in Cleveland. Steph finished with 14 points, 7 assists. LeBron, in his seventh year in the league, finished with 31 points, 12 assists and the win. But before the game, the friends kicked it at LeBron’s crib.

Curry: “When we’re hanging out, like we were at his house last week, we’re basically talking about everything but the next day’s game. We were commenting on the games that were playing on TV. We were watching Family Guy. We talked about the trade [the Warriors had just exchanged Stephen Jackson and Acie Law for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic] a little bit, and how I thought it was going to help my team. But we’re not saying things like, I can’t wait to guard you! He had a bowling alley at his house, too, so we bowled for a little bit which was pretty cool.” [GQ]

2010-2013: In July 2010, LeBron relocated to Miami and formed the Heatles. They’d appear in the next four Finals, and win two of them. LeBron won two MVPs and two Finals MVPs, and he was undisputedly the best player in the world. Meanwhile, Steph had become a budding star. In 2013, he broke the record for most 3s made in a season (272), and led the Warriors to their first postseason in six years. People were put on notice.

Also, how cute is this backstage video of LeBron and Chris Bosh joshing with Curry at the 2014 All-Star Game?

July 2014: LeBron was a free agent and the Warriors tried to make their pitch. But LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, wasn’t hearing it. The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson reports:

“LeBron James had his chance.

“In 2014, the Warriors wanted in on the sweepstakes. His contract in Miami was ending and he was taking meetings, allowing teams to make their pitches. The Warriors wanted in. They had just lost the first-round series to the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games. Had just fired Mark Jackson and hired Steve Kerr as coach. They were in search of that next element to put them over the hump.

“The Warriors worked behind the scenes to get a meeting with LeBron. Couldn’t do it. James’ agent Rich Paul met with the Rockets, Mavericks, Lakers and Suns that summer. He eventually announced he was returning to Cleveland.”

May 2015: Ahead of their first Finals match-up, reporters asked LeBron how to slow down Steph. LeBron’s comparisons for Curry’s talent have now evolved from Rip Hamilton to himself.

James: "The same way you slow me down ... You can't." [press conference]

Steph shared the same sentiment.

Curry: "He seems to be able to get to anywhere he wants on the floor. He's a gamer. You know he's going to be ready for big moments. He's got a motor that you've always got to be ready. There is no time that you can kind of take a possession off against him. So you've always got to be locked into your game plan. You're not going to totally shut him down. I don't think that's been done before."

June 2015: LeBron and Steph meet in the Finals for the first time, but with Kevin Love out for the series and Kyrie Irving injuring his knee in Game 1, some hinted that Steph’s first championship needed an asterisk.

ESPN Reporter Brian Windhorst: “The Cavs had bristled watching the Warriors celebrate, feeling there was an unfairness they couldn’t do anything about.” [Return of the King: LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Greatest Comeback in NBA History]

James: “We ran out of talent. There was a lot of talent sitting in suits. I’ve been watching basketball for a long time, I’m a historian of the game. I don’t know any other team that’s gotten to the Finals without two All-Stars.” [USA Today]

Windhorst: “James’s implication was that they’d faced extreme, in his mind historic, obstacles. The Warriors had been fully healthy throughout the season and the playoffs. Not only had they played the injury-riddled Cavs, but some of their other opponents had had significant injuries as well.” [Return of the King]

Curry: “I apologize for us being healthy. I apologize for us playing who was in front of us. I apologize for all the accolades we received as a team and individually. I’m very, truly sorry, and we’ll rectify that situation this year.” [ESPN]

December 2015: LeBron had just signed a lifetime contract with Nike, but Steph’s signature shoe was booming—Morgan Stanley projected that it would surpass LeBron’s shoe sales for the year, although it ultimately came up short.

Reporter, talking to LeBron postgame: Under Armour just released a commercial —

James: Who?

Reporter: Under Armour.

James: Who is that? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

January 2016: Steph and the Warriors return to Cleveland for the first time since celebrating their championship. Cheers!

Curry: "Obviously, walking in the locker room, it'll be good memories. Hopefully, it still smells a little bit like champagne."

NBA Reporter Chris Haynes: “Sources are telling Cleveland.com that members of the Cavaliers have taken exception to the quote and viewed it as ‘disrespectful.’

“When LeBron James finished up his media address after shootaround this morning, he walked away asking reporters why no one asked him about Curry's comments. He said he had an answer for it.” [Cleveland.com]

Curry:

May 2016: Steph becomes the first unanimous winner of the MVP award in 2015-16 (LeBron fell one vote shy of the same achievement in 2013). It’s Steph’s second MVP in a row, and the second straight year LeBron finishes in third. LeBron, not for the last time, muses on the criteria for selection; Steph muses on criticism from Hall of Famers that he looks up to.

James: "I think sometimes the word 'valuable' or best player of the year, you can have different results. You know, that's not taking anything from anyone that's ever won the award...When you talk about ‘most valuable’, then you can have a different conversation."

Curry on the scrutiny of being named MVP: "They're going to have more of a spotlight, and people are going to ask questions about whoever it is. When there are legends and people that I looked up to as a player -- as a young kid, as a basketball player -- Hall of Famers and guys that talk about our team, it means that obviously we're doing something good, so we keep doing it. I take it with a grain of salt." [ESPN]

Curry: "I've gotten really good at ignoring people, so that is the theme of the last two years. So I'm alright."

LeBron then defends Steph against the naysayers.

James: “I heard Dennis Rodman say if I played in their era I’d just be an average player – yeah, about me, that I’d be just an average player. And they say the same things about Steph, ‘If Steph played in our era, then we’d be more physical with him and we’d go at him.’ And it sucks because we’re just trying to carry the torch for the next group to come behind us.” [USA Today]

June 2016: The Warriors and the Cavaliers meet in the Finals for the second year in a row, and talk of a rivalry begins to brew.

Curry: "It's really annoying for me. That's not what I'm playing for, to be the face of the NBA or to be this or that or to take LeBron's throne or whatever.”

James: “You guys make rivals. I think it’s great for the sport. It’s great for all sports. I don’t think me and Steph, when you talk about rivalries, you talk about Carolina-Duke, you talk about Ohio State-Michigan.”

Curry: “I'm trying to chase rings, and that's what I'm all about. So that's where the conversation stops for me.”

James: “It’s hard to say LeBron and Steph. If there’s a smaller scale or another word for a rival.”

In Game 6, Steph picked up his disqualifying sixth foul against LeBron on a controversial call. Steph threw his mouthpiece at a fan (LeBron pointed!) and ultimately got ejected. It was the first ejection of his career.

Then, oddly, their wives are pushed into the fray. After that contentious Warriors Game 6 loss, Ayesha Curry—Steph’s wife—tweeted that the NBA was “rigged for money.”

Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take: “Savannah is not like that at all. LeBron doesn’t have to protect her. She doesn’t put herself in those positions. She’s at practically every home game. Every time I’m in Cleveland, just like when I was in Miami, I saw her at every game. Everyone knows who she is. She sits in the same place. She’s at every game, and she’s just as pleasant as you can be.”

Ayesha Curry, via Twitter: “Why are you putting two women against each other like that? You’re the one that’s out of pocket.”

Smith fires back live on air: "I’m just saying to you you need to watch yourself because it may put your husband in a compromising position that I’m sure you don’t want and Savannah James, whose been around, who has a husband who is universally recognized as one of the greatest players in the world, has been around for quite a long time, and she appears to know that."

The Warriors blow a 3-1 lead in the Finals. LeBron brings Cleveland its first championship in franchise history. In the championship parade, LeBron wears an Ultimate Warrior T-shirt, which many felt was an ultimate dig at Golden State.

LeBron defending his fashion choice: “Well, it’s funny because my wife bought [it earlier]. She asked me who my favorite wrestlers of all time were, and I told her Sting, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Ultimate Warrior, The Undertaker, and Ric Flair. Those are some of my favorite guys ever from growing up. […] So, one day I get home from practice, and there are these T-shirts laying in my bedroom, and my wife purchased them from a store. I packed them all throughout the playoffs. And the shirt that I had on to come home in, I wore in Vegas, and my teammates sprayed me with Champagne. It got soaking wet, so I had to throw it in the trash, and the only other shirt I had in my bag was my Ultimate Warrior T-shirt.” [Business Insider]

October 2016: LeBron throws a Halloween party with tombstone cookies decorated with Steph and Klay Thompson’s names. Was the added “3-1 Lead” decor light-hearted fun or petty?

James on Instagram: “The dessert table was phenomenal!!!”

Dave McMenamin, ESPN: “...sources told ESPN.com there was even a dummy dressed up like Curry on the floor of the haunted house that guests had no choice but to walk over when they arrived to get to the party.”

Curry: “I’m just going to keep it quiet.”

June 2017: Steph and LeBron meet again in the 2017 Finals, but now the Warriors have Kevin Durant. The Warriors win the championship 4-1, Kevin Durant wins Finals MVP, and KD surfaces as one of the best players in the world—over LeBron and Steph.

The Athletic Reporter Ethan Sherwood Strauss: “When I talked to Cavs staffers about the 2017 Finals, they were upfront about how KD had outplayed LeBron. One went so far as to tell me, ‘Kevin Durant kicked LeBron’s ass. He completely dominated LeBron in the series. Every time KD needed to score, he did and it didn’t matter what the fuck LeBron did. I was amazed coming out of that series that there wasn’t far more discussion of, ‘Has KD supplanted LeBron as best player in the world?’” [The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty]

July 2017: A video of Steph surfaces from Harrison Barnes’ wedding, in which he seems to be mocking LeBron’s recently-posted macho workout selfie video. Kyrie Irving, who had his own conflicts with LeBron when they played together in Cleveland, was right there, too, egging him on. Steph denied any malicious intent.

Curry: "I've been watching that video twice a day since it happened because it's my favorite video in the entire world. He made a song popular by making a video. And that lives. So now every time I hear that song, that's all I think about. And I've been doing that dance because of him, at my house, at dinner. When something good happens, I pull that out, because I like it and it makes me laugh and it makes me happy. Not making fun of him." [The Athletic]

(Side note: Did anyone care that Giannis made a video, too?)

August 2017: It took Donald Trump to bring LeBron and Steph back together. When the Warriors decided not make the traditional trip to the White House after winning a championship, Trump tweeted “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!" LeBron rushed to Steph’s defense:

James on Twitter: “U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”

May 2018: In Game 1 of the Finals (you know, when J.R. Smith’s brain melted down, wasting one of LeBron’s greatest single game performances ever), Steph goes up for a layup late in the game, and LeBron blocks it. The Warriors have already sealed a win that LeBron was thisclose to single handedly pulling out, and things get heated.

Curry, postgame talking to Doris Burke: “I was just trying to finish the game out, he had made a great block, starting talking some trash so I talked some trash back.”

Windhorst: "And Steph turns to him — and I think this is sort of an indication of the mindset of the two teams — Steph turns to him ... I think what he said was, 'Boy, you couldn't let me have that one?'

"And LeBron basically told him to get the f--- out of his face." [from The Lowe Post podcast]

Curry: “[LeBron said], ‘I gotta do that so my teammates know I’m a mentor’ and it was part of his leadership and that type of deal. I don’t want to be the sacrificial lamb for your leadership. C’mon, man that’s messed up.” [from The Bill Simmons Podcast]

Curry, postgame talking to Doris Burke: “After that, it was just a bunch of nonsense that had nothing to do with the game. [Klay and I] wanted to keep our composure, stay focused on winning a championship.”

December 2019: Rumors of the LeBron-Steph rivalry reemerge.

Bill Simmons (from The Book of Basketball 2.0 podcast): "We know this -- I'm not sure the average human being knows this -- but the LeBron/Curry thing is pretty real."

Windhorst: "Oh yeah."

Simmons: "It is not friendly. I think LeBron really has genuine disdain for him. And I think Curry's kind of like, 'F*** you, I've won as many titles as you have.' And you could feel it festering in the 2016 [Finals] because there's this underlying current of LeBron has gone back to Cleveland, the King is back, and then Curry comes in and kind of grabs the crown a little bit. And more importantly I think to LeBron ... [Curry] became really popular."

Windhorst: "I don't know if the word jealous is fair because I don't think LeBron's jealous of anybody, but he didn't think it was fair. He was like, 'What about me?' LeBron was like, if I had delivered some of the eggs that [Curry's] delivered in the Finals games over the years, I would be getting skewered. And he gets away with it."

October 2020: Kevin Durant is two seasons gone from the Warriors, and a series of unfortunate injuries have taken the team out of championship contention. LeBron conquers the “bubble” and takes the Los Angeles Lakers to their first championship in 10 years. Steph was out for the season due to a broken wrist. Coincidentally, the heat has seemingly gone out of LeBron and Steph’s so-called rivalry.

Curry: “Now obviously him being in the West, in the same division, and we should play them four times in a normal year. But I think at the end of the day, if you get caught up in that, you're already at a disadvantage just because there's so many other teams and other players at the top. And what Bron did in the Finals, or in the bubble season this year, and what he continues to do every year—it's truly remarkable and unbelievable. I love that competition.

And whoever that next guy that's going to challenge the top five, top 10 list in the league and all that type of stuff, that's for everybody else to talk about. We know what's up on the court when you see a guy across the way, you know you've got a force to be reckoned with. I want to be in that conversation every year, no matter who it is. Forever, it's going to be hard to get rid of the four year back and forth between the Warriors and Cleveland, but we're moving on.” [Complex]

March 2021: LeBron selects Steph to be on his All-Star team in Atlanta. This marks the first time the duo has played as teammates. And look how happy they are!

And they even did the chalk toss together:

James via Twitter: “Finally got to share the floor with @StephenCurry30! Well overdue and I loved every single second!!”

Curry via Twitter: “Much love bro! #TeamLeBron with the W while we at it. #akron”

May 2021: As Steph and LeBron’s fifth postseason meeting looms, their interactions seem...cordial?

Curry, asked about the prospect of a Lakers-Warriors play-in game: … *shakes head for 13 seconds, smiles*

James: "We're playing, in my mind, the MVP of this year in Steph...For our paths to continue to cross in our careers is pretty unique and pretty cool. Our paths have been crossed again. It's always been a level of respect that's even beyond the game of basketball, the way I feel for Steph.

“Just look what he's done this year. Everybody counted him out this year. Everybody saying now that Klay is hurt, can Steph lead a team on his own, can he carry a team into the postseason, can he keep a team afloat, he's done that and more. If you're looking for MVP, if Steph is not on Golden State's team, what are we looking at? We get caught up in the record sometimes instead of just saying, 'who had the best season that year?' And Steph has had, in my opinion, the best season all year.

“Obviously I don't think Steph is going to get [the MVP]. ... That's another conversation. But in my eyes, he's played the best basketball all year round."

Curry, after practice Tuesday: “I love—no matter if it’s him, it’s me, whoever it is—there’s always another element of analytics or analyzing what we say, how we say it or when we say it. Bron’s no stranger to that. Neither are we.

“Obviously I’m appreciative that he knows when he says something, people pay attention. So for him to speak on my MVP candidacy is definitely, I respect him for it and I appreciate it.”