Cavaliers star LeBron James has laughed off suggestions that he and Steph Curry are rivals to match Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
James and Curry have met in the NBA finals the past two seasons, and the tussles between Cleveland and Golden State have stirred memories of classic Lakers-Celtics duels of the 1980s. But James, speaking after Saturday’s All-Star practice session, said he simply doesn’t view Curry as a rival.
James, in his 14th season in the NBA, said: “I don’t have a rivalry with Steph Curry. There’s no way you can say ‘let’s talk about rivalries’ and you say Bird and Magic, Carolina-Duke, Ohio State-Michigan, and then say LeBron and Steph.
“It’s disrespectful to those other three that I just named that you would even try to put us in the class with that. We haven’t had enough battles, and who’s to say we’ll have future battles? We’ll see, but to put us in a category with [them], it’s impossible. You can’t do it.”
The 32-year-old James is a four-time NBA MVP, but Curry has won the past two MVP awards, and last year he was the unanimous choice – the first time in league history.
The Cavaliers and Warriors are top of their respective conferences at the halfway stage, and are strong favourites to set up a third straight finals match-up. Another Golden State-Cleveland series would be an NBA first: no two teams have played three straight finals against each other.
James said he wasn’t fazed by the prospect of a gruelling second half of the season, and insisted he had plenty of energy left for a deep playoff run.
“I have enough left for whatever,” James said. “I was ready to play another finals after Game 7 of last year. Just give me one or two days rest and I’ll be ready to go again.”
Sunday’s will be the first All-Star game since 2005 – James’ first All-Star – where no player in the game will be older than 32. Carmelo Anthony is the oldest All-Star, seven months older than James and eight months older than Marc Gasol. They’re all 32.
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