Get ready for some uncomfortable conversations if the Golden State Warriors win the NBA Championship this season.
That’s what NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce is projecting if Steph Curry wins his fifth title. Pierce believes a fifth title for Curry would move him past LeBron James in ‘greatest player’ discussions and place him in the same sentence with Michael Jordan.
Let that marinate for a moment. Pierce is putting a pretty high value on what another NBA title would mean for Curry’s legacy.
“If Steph Curry wins one more championship, let’s say this year, and gets the Finals MVP, we are going to have some very very very uncomfortable conversations,” an emphatic Pierce said in a recent appearance on FS1’s Speak with Joy Taylor and Keyshawn Johnson. “That would mean, in the LeBron era, that he would have won his fifth title. This is gonna shake some things up. We’re gonna start putting Steph up there with Michael Jordan.”
Curry needs to win two more titles to catch up with Jordan’s six, but Curry would surpass James’ four titles if Golden State gets out of the Western Conference and defeats the Eastern Conference opponent.
Although Pierce’s elevation of Curry is tied more directly with James than Jordan, comparing the 16-year veteran’s titles with both legends is certain to ignite some arguments. Pierce is ready for the debates and believes he has a strong case.
“A fifth title means Steph would have won it with three different teams…before ‘KD’ (Kevin Durant), with KD and after KD,” Pierce said of Curry’s titles with Golden State in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. “Three of those titles Steph would have won without a Top 75 player (NBA Top 75 Anniversary team). In my eyes, he would have won this era with LeBron. That tells me, ‘Is he greater than LeBron’? He would have won the LeBron era.”
Curry was a first-round pick in 2008. The LeBron era started in 2003. Pierce continued to exhale about the ‘LeBron era.’
“In the LeBron era, Steph would have five chips and a unanimous MVP (2016),” said Pierce, who won an NBA title with Boston in 2008. “That’s gotta hold some weight. People talk about LeBron as the greatest player, but a player in your era wins unanimous MVP without you getting a vote.”
Curry, the NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers with 4,058, received all 131 first-place votes in MVP balloting in 2016. He also won MVP in 2015.
If Golden State were to win this year’s NBA title, Curry would join a list of five-time winners that includes Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Robert Parish, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, Michael Cooper, Derek Fisher, George Mikan and Kurt Rambis.
Pierce will likely be in high demand for interviews if Curry is hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy with his teammates in June.
Ray Richardson is a contributor to Back In Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at RayRich55@gmail.com
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