“Back to Iguodala, up for the layup, OH BLOCKED BY JAMES!”, “Curry from way downtown, BANG BANG!”, “Here is Durant moving on Tucker, he turns, he shoots, YES!” These iconic plays were made by the three best players of this era of basketball: LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. However, it seems their stories are all but over, and it is finally time to pass the torch to the next generation.
James, in my eyes at least, is the greatest basketball player to ever live. He was drafted out of high school in 2003 before current LHS students were even born, and will continue to play in the NBA after some of us have left. He is even planning to wait until his son LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. reaches the NBA before he retires. So far, James has garnered four NBA championships, four MVPs, is a 20x All Star, 19x All-NBA and is the only player in NBA history to reach 40,000 points. His career is more than impressive, but it sadly looks like it is coming to the end as the Los Angeles Lakers lost 4-1 to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. LeBron will not win anything else in Los Angeles and will probably move on to a different team this offseason.
Stephen Curry is indubitably the greatest shooter to ever touch a basketball. Curry surpassed Ray Allen’s all-time three-point record in 2021 and has not slowed down since then. He is at 3747, 774 higher than Allen. The separation from number one and number two is greater than the difference between two and 12. Curry also has four NBA championships, two MVPs, is a 10x All Star and 9x All-NBA. Unlike LeBron and Durant, Curry completely missed the playoffs this year after disappointing seasons from Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Curry still has a few more years left, but I cannot see him competing for a championship unless something drastic changes.
Lastly, Kevin Durant, hated by many for joining the Golden State Warriors in 2017, is without question one of the most gifted scorers of all time. KD is a seven-footer who is elite at scoring from all three levels. In my opinion, he is the best midrange scorer of all time; Durant is the definition of unguardable. KD has two NBA championships, one MVP, is a 14x All Star and 10x All NBA. Now on the Phoenix Suns, Durant was swept 4-0 out of the playoffs by the Timberwolves. NBA fans are intrigued as to when Durant will request a trade, something he is notorious for doing in recent years.
These three are the kind of players that fans of the sport should not take for granted, once-in-a-generation type talents. Even though there may be some animosity towards them for beating your favorite team, everyone is going to miss these guys when they are gone.
