This is OBVIOUSLY Steph's era- not Lebron's.

[Cavsfansince84]

Giannis has been the best player for a few seasons now, shouldn't the title be "this is OBVIOUSLY Steph's era- not Giannis's"?

He's been the most dominant rs player over the last 4 years along with Jokic. There's weren't too many people calling Giannis the best player in the world though until last year and even now I wouldn't call Steph the best but I think more reaffirmed that he is top 3-4. I think Jokic is actually the best even with a second round exit. Its not always clear who the best player in the world is.

[trueballer7]

There is a difference between winners and pretenders. When you say its Curry's era, you mean Curry made it his own. When you say its Lebrons' era, you mean the corporate machine tried to make it so and failed, because he is a loser, and never stopped being one.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

There is a difference between winners and pretenders. When you say its Curry's era, you mean Curry made it his own. When you say its Lebrons' era, you mean the corporate machine tried to make it so and failed, because he is a loser, and never stopped being one.

What in the world are you talking about.

[DCasey91]

Top 5 players of each decade:

60’s
1. Wilt
2. Russell
3. O. Robertson
4. J. West
5. E. Baylor

70’s
1. Kareem
2. J. Erving
3. Hayes
4. Havlicek
5. Frazier

80’s
1. Magic
2. Bird
3. Kareem
4. Jordan
5. M. Malone

90’s
1. Jordan
2. Olajuwon
3. K. Malone
4. Robinson
5. Barkley

00’s
1. Kobe
2. Duncan
3. Shaq
4. Garnett
5. Wade

10’s
1. James
2. Curry
3. Durant
4. Harden
5. Leonard

It’s LeBron’s era, however it’s getting close and IF Curry picks up another ring he could surpass him as the best of his era.

Great list, fair list. Though one exception. Dirk. Now Wade is probably my favourite player of all time but Dirk was a bad bad man even though he finally won in 11’ he has to be in the top 5 in the 00’s. Love Wade but once again Dirk was a baaaaaaaaad man.

[Lalouie]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

I think Kevin Durant is that reason.
Without Durant, Lebron has at least 2 more titles.

hold on there.
considering how lebron was able the skew the playing field in his favor by the sheer power of manipulation,,,his batting average STINKS. there was nothing guaranteed in any of his rings and he came by 3of4 on pure luck. just cuz he was lucky enuf to pull out a miracle comeback(with help from dray's suspension btw) doesn't mean lebron could walk to another 2...not even close.

[Heej]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

[Homer38]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

And not forget that the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer good in the 1990s after their dominance in the 1980s

[Jonny Blaze]

C'mon....It was more that Curry vs LBJ in his finals...I mean just in 2016,Curry was awful,LeBron was legendary on offense and defense and the finals were still close.....

2016 was 6 years ago. Since that Finals loss Curry has won 3 more NBA Titles.
He now has 2 NBA titles without Kevin Durant. point being that Lebron fans need to get over 2016.

The Warriors have won titles with Harrison Barnes, Kevin Durant and Andrew Wiggins at the power forward spot.
Barnes and Wiggins are considered somewhat average....but when they play with Curry they end up being NBA Champions.

Lebron has won with Shumpert, JR Smith and Delly. Also in 15’ Warriors still needed 6 with Irving missing and Mozgov along. Love was very suspect in 18 too btw.

Lebron has carried some true style bums to the finals/championships.

Curry in his prime has basically played on stacked or the most stacked team ever basically. It’s truely a disservice to say Lebron has played on stacked teams when Curry has had the exact same thing minus winning with bums lol.

The 2015 and 2022 Warriors were not stacked teams. The teams that Curry has been on are all better than the best teams that Lebron has been on.

For as great as Lebron is....he has never really been on an all time great team because there are limitations to the Lebron James system.

A team with a great basketball IQ will almost always beat a Lebron James led team.

[Heej]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

And not forget that the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer good in the 1990s after their dominance in the 1980s

Yeah that's what I meant. Nowadays those players would've been around longer. Especially Magic and Bird. He got lucky to be playing in such a power vacuum. Too late for Bird and Magic to keep doing their thing. Too early for the next generation of all timers like Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, etc to actually give him a run for his money with comparable supporting casts. Hell, Shaq would've taken out MJ in 96 if Horace Grant wasn't injured and God knows how things would've turned out if Penny stayed healthy.

[Jonny Blaze]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

And not forget that the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer good in the 1990s after their dominance in the 1980s

Ya know what....you guys are correct. I was a Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls hater in the 1990's. I used to love watching the Bad Boy Pistons kick his ass (very similar to how the Warriors dominated Lebron).

I kept waiting and waiting for someone to dethrone Jordan after the Pistons/Lakers/Celtics retired....but no one ever did. I finally joined the Jordan bandwagon in 1997 and 98 because I hated the Utah Jazz.

I actually hold this against Lebron.

After my Mavericks kicked Lebrons ass in 2011 Finals I was positive that Lebron was going to dominate the 2010's (like Jordan did in the 1990's)....and it did not happen.

The Eastern Conference was horrible, and Lebron was on the most talented teams in the NBA for 8 straight years.
The Warriors ended up being the dominant team of the 2010's...and they did it almost all organically.

Everyone ate in the 2010's Lebron era including Dirk, Kawhi, Old head Tim Duncan, and the Golden St Warriors.

[NZB2323]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

Guys in Lebron's era washed out also. Derrick Rose tore his ACL the year Lebron won his first ring. The Warriors were injured when Lebron won his 4th ring.

Shaq came into the league 7 years after Jordan, and Curry came into the league 7 years after Lebron. The difference is Shaq made the all-star game his first year, and Curry wasn't an all-star until his 5th year. Also no one from Lebron's draft class is as good as Hakeem, and Jordan never teamed up with the Dream just to shrink in the Finals and be the 4th leading scorer in the series.

[Roddy B for 3]

Lebron was a blip in 04. His era didn't start til 2012 after the Lakers run was done and Dirk's 2011. And Curry's era overlapped and overtook his in 2015. This will clearly be remembered as Curry's era by the young fans. They all try to emulate Curry the way 00s fans would yell "Kobe" and emulate him, and 90s fans would stick their tongues out like MJ, and 80s fans would throw fancy passes like Magic. Lebron is the biggest star of this era, but Curry's success and influence has overtaken him since 2015

My literal first two words were "define era".

LeBron was a "blip" in '04 LOL
LeBron had the expectations of MJ from high school. His first game was on national TV against a contender Kings squad.

I was 12 when LBJ entered the league and I remember walking around my backyard thinking "I'm going to be OLD when this guy retires". I distinctively remember that. I bought NBA live 2004 (my first ever brand new bsketball game) because I wanted to play with LBJ (and Dallas Maverick legend Michael Finley was on the back of the game)

LeBron was not a blip in '04.

If we're saying who are people going to "be nostalgic" for defines an era then yeah maybe Steph. But if we're saying who the best player was from '15 (obviously arbitrary cutoff, arbitrary cutoff is obvious) until '22 it gets more interesting.

TLDR: Imo who people end up being nostalgic for doesn't define an era & LBJ was most certainly not a "blip" in 2004

LBJ is probably the 1st or 2nd biggest star in NBA history. So to say his age 30-37 years will be remembeeed as the Steph Curry era is kind of weird to me.

Although I will readily admit from a team standpoint GSW are what this era is about. One of the greatest runs in NBA history. With imo only the 60's Celtics, 90's Bulls and 80's Lakers as clearly better runs.

Lebron wasn't shaping the NBA in 2004. There were different guys doing that. Biggest memory of his from that year is that Team USA that lost int he Olympics. The faces of the NBA back then were Kobe & Shaq. Lebron's era began with the Heatles and ended with the Warriors rise.

As for biggest star in NBA history, not even close. MJ, Kobe, Shaq, and even AI are bigger internationally, and in American Magic, Bird, Wilt, Kareem join the club.

Crazy talk.

Even in your handpicked era of '15-'22 LeBron got more MVP votes than Curry 3 of 8 times.

During the absolute height of Steph's career vs just 1 segmant of LeBrons LeBron got more MVP votes than Steph 37.5 % of the time.

And why do you get to pick what era is what? Why do you get to pick what constitutes a era of basketball and why is your opinion the one that matters?

Here's my arguments
-Russell era because the GOAT college player joins the NBA and wins 11 out of 13 championships.
-Kareem era and a flat league, because Russell retired and the new GOAT college player enters the league and is widely regarded as the best player winning a chip 2 years in while the league was flat and balanced as a whole.
-Magic/Bird era because these two are seen as rival college stars who went on to become NBA championship rivals and the kick off was Magics rookie year game 6
-Jordan era because Jordan was already a multiple time MVP during the Magic/Bird era and finally got over the hump only to do it 6 times in total
-whos the next Jordan?, mini era. Because the mistique of Jordan hung over everything (Shaq/Kobe Lakers championships ended with can Kobe reach MJ status?) VC/TMac/Iverson all comped to MJ as the NBA was going threw metaphorical withdrawals
-LBJ era because history would go on to show us LBJ would answer the call of who the next MJ would be (read face of the NBA)

[NZB2323]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

And not forget that the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer good in the 1990s after their dominance in the 1980s

The teams that were dominant early in Lebron's career weren't good either when he won his first ring. The 2008 Celtics were way better than the 2012 Celtics, the 2004 Pistons were way better than the 2012 Pistons, the 2009 Lakers were way better than the 2012 Lakers. The 2004 Lakers were way better than the 2012 Lakers. I guess you could say the 2012 Heat were better than the 2006 Heat, but that's because Lebron joined Wade's team.

And I don't know how you can say the Pistons were dominant in 1990 when they won the championship, but then weren't good anymore when the Bulls swept them the very next year.

[Homer38]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

Guys in Lebron's era washed out also. Derrick Rose tore his ACL the year Lebron won his first ring. The Warriors were injured when Lebron won his 4th ring.

Shaq came into the league 7 years after Jordan, and Curry came into the league 7 years after Lebron. The difference is Shaq made the all-star game his first year, and Curry wasn't an all-star until his 5th year. Also no one from Lebron's draft class is as good as Hakeem, and Jordan never teamed up with the Dream just to shrink in the Finals and be the 4th leading scorer in the series.

Injury are part of the game, but the bulls for the most part have always been healthy for most of the 1990s outside of 1998 with Pippen and his back problems at the end of the finals but he was still playing and he was still very impactful like in game 6 against jazz when he finished the game at +16 in a one point win

LeBron was the league's best player for a very long time between 2009 to 2020 no matter who was his competition like Wade, Kobe, KD, Kawhi, Curry, Giannis etc and he often played against elite team in the finals like the spurs and the warriors....Jordan is the best player ever, but it's also true that he was lucky to play when the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer dominant...Overall Jordan had a combined record of 2-5 against his teams and we can't say the pistons were still a great team when the bulls beat them in 1991...It was a 50 wins team only

In 1993, the Suns were great in offense, below average in defense and the Knicks were great in defense and terrible in offense, so rarely did the Bulls ever play against teams that were great in offense and defense like it was often the case for LBJ in the finals

[NZB2323]

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

And not forget that the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer good in the 1990s after their dominance in the 1980s

Yeah that's what I meant. Nowadays those players would've been around longer. Especially Magic and Bird. He got lucky to be playing in such a power vacuum. Too late for Bird and Magic to keep doing their thing. Too early for the next generation of all timers like Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, etc to actually give him a run for his money with comparable supporting casts. Hell, Shaq would've taken out MJ in 96 if Horace Grant wasn't injured and God knows how things would've turned out if Penny stayed healthy.

God only knows how things would've turned out if Derrick Rose stayed healthy, the Magic got swept in 96, and you could say the same thing for Lebron. When Lebron was winning championships, it was too late for Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan ect. to actually give him a run for his money. When Lebron won his last ring, it was too early for the next generations of all timers like Giannis to actually give him a run for his money with comparable supporting casts, and the Warriors were injured.

You talk like players didn't have longevity during Jordan's era, when he took out Malone and Stockton twice, and act like players in Lebron's time didn't get injured.

[KnicksGadfly]

Curry is probably the biggest reason why Lebron won’t ever be considered the GOAT

I think Kevin Durant is that reason.
Without Durant, Lebron has at least 2 more titles.

Meh, how many people could have replaced Kevin Durant on that Warriors team and still helped them beat the Cavs? It’s a shat ton of people considering that they were only replacing a choking Harrison Barnes.

Anyway your argument sucks cause the Warriors replaced KD with Wiggins and still won a chip. Nice try though!

KD tears boo hoo hoo

[Homer38]

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

And not forget that the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer good in the 1990s after their dominance in the 1980s

The teams that were dominant early in Lebron's career weren't good either when he won his first ring. The 2008 Celtics were way better than the 2012 Celtics, the 2004 Pistons were way better than the 2012 Pistons, the 2009 Lakers were way better than the 2012 Lakers. The 2004 Lakers were way better than the 2012 Lakers. I guess you could say the 2012 Heat were better than the 2006 Heat, but that's because Lebron joined Wade's team.

And I don't know how you can say the Pistons were dominant in 1990 when they won the championship, but then weren't good anymore when the Bulls swept them the very next year.

After 1990,it was not longer a great team the pistons...They won 63 games in 1989 and 59 in 1990 but only 50 games in 1991 and they beat a weak Atlanta team 3-2 only in the first round.Their decline were obvious even before the ECF

[KnicksGadfly]

It is possible to congratulate a player without lowering another player, especially when this player has nothing to do with this year

Yah but sometimes the players lower themselves (like KD)

[NZB2323]

Just goes to show how weak MJs era was that all the guys that could've held him back washed out relatively early compared to modern players and no new young guys really came up to take their place for all of Jordan's prime. If Jordan was dealing with 01 Shaq or Duncan for all of the 90s his career would look a lot different too LOL. The up and comers in the 90s sucked . And also the Warriors lucked into a stacked team

Guys in Lebron's era washed out also. Derrick Rose tore his ACL the year Lebron won his first ring. The Warriors were injured when Lebron won his 4th ring.

Shaq came into the league 7 years after Jordan, and Curry came into the league 7 years after Lebron. The difference is Shaq made the all-star game his first year, and Curry wasn't an all-star until his 5th year. Also no one from Lebron's draft class is as good as Hakeem, and Jordan never teamed up with the Dream just to shrink in the Finals and be the 4th leading scorer in the series.

Injury are part of the game, but the bulls for the most part have always been healthy for most of the 1990s outside of 1998 with Pippen and his back problems at the end of the finals but he was still playing and he was still very impactful like in game 6 against jazz when he finished the game at +16 in a one point win

LeBron was the league's best player for a very long time between 2009 to 2020 no matter who was his competition like Wade, Kobe, KD, Kawhi, Curry, Giannis etc and he often played against elite team in the finals like the spurs and the warriors....Jordan is the best player ever, but it's also true that he was lucky to play when the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer dominant...Overall Jordan had a combined record of 2-5 against his teams and we can't say the pistons were still a great team when the bulls beat them in 1991...It was a 50 wins team only

In 1993, the Suns were great in offense, below average in defense and the Knicks were great in defense and terrible in offense, so rarely did the Bulls ever play against teams that were great in offense and defense like it was often the case for LBJ in the finals

In 1993 the Suns were 9th in defensive rating and 1st in offensive rating.

In 1991 the Lakers were 5th in defensive and offensive rating.
In 1992 the Traiblazers were 3rd in defensive and 7th in offensive rating.
In 1996 the Supersonics were 2nd in defensive rating and 8th in offensive rating.
In 1997 the Jazz were 9th in defensive and 2nd in offensive rating.
In 1998 the Pacers were 5th in defensive and 4th in offensive rating.

[Homer38]

Guys in Lebron's era washed out also. Derrick Rose tore his ACL the year Lebron won his first ring. The Warriors were injured when Lebron won his 4th ring.

Shaq came into the league 7 years after Jordan, and Curry came into the league 7 years after Lebron. The difference is Shaq made the all-star game his first year, and Curry wasn't an all-star until his 5th year. Also no one from Lebron's draft class is as good as Hakeem, and Jordan never teamed up with the Dream just to shrink in the Finals and be the 4th leading scorer in the series.

Injury are part of the game, but the bulls for the most part have always been healthy for most of the 1990s outside of 1998 with Pippen and his back problems at the end of the finals but he was still playing and he was still very impactful like in game 6 against jazz when he finished the game at +16 in a one point win

LeBron was the league's best player for a very long time between 2009 to 2020 no matter who was his competition like Wade, Kobe, KD, Kawhi, Curry, Giannis etc and he often played against elite team in the finals like the spurs and the warriors....Jordan is the best player ever, but it's also true that he was lucky to play when the lakers,pistons and celtics were no longer dominant...Overall Jordan had a combined record of 2-5 against his teams and we can't say the pistons were still a great team when the bulls beat them in 1991...It was a 50 wins team only

In 1993, the Suns were great in offense, below average in defense and the Knicks were great in defense and terrible in offense, so rarely did the Bulls ever play against teams that were great in offense and defense like it was often the case for LBJ in the finals

In 1993 the Suns were 9th in defensive rating and 1st in offensive rating.

In 1991 the Lakers were 5th in defensive and offensive rating.
In 1992 the Traiblazers were 3rd in defensive and 7th in offensive rating.
In 1996 the Supersonics were 2nd in defensive rating and 8th in offensive rating.
In 1997 the Jazz were 9th in defensive and 2nd in offensive rating.
In 1998 the Pacers were 5th in defensive and 4th in offensive rating.

The rankings can be misleading due to the number of expansion teams and the number of historic bad teams the NBA had in the late 1990s...I mean in 1998 the NBA had like 6 teams with 62 losses or more and it was not much better that the few years before!

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_1998.html