Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry will need to find some room in his crowded trophy case for a new piece of hardware. After the team's series-clinching win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday at Chase Center, the veteran sharpshooter was named the winner of the NBA's inaugural West Finals MVP award. The accolade was well-deserved, as Curry averaged 23.8 points with 7.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds.
Although most of Curry's supporting cast has changed since the Warriors last celebrated a championship, back in 2018, he's helped lift the revamped group to old, familiar heights. Golden State clinched its sixth NBA Finals appearance in eight seasons, and if Curry wins four more games, he'll be tied with LeBron James and 14 others as a four-time champion. Curry has cemented himself as the greatest shooter of all-time, so how does his legacy compare to James'?
"LeBron is top-two in the history of the NBA. Steph Curry, we could talk about top-eight or top-10. He's not top-two. Can we stop the insanity?" Maggie Gray said during the Maggie and Perloff show on Friday. "He's an amazing player -- he's a game-changing player. We'll look back on him as one of the innovators of the NBA. But he's not there with LeBron... I think most people have already put LeBron wherever they're going to put him, and that's No. 1 or No. 2."
"Are we talking about apples and oranges here? Curry's unique in his own way and has done something different than anyone's ever done in the NBA. But, if you're picking teams, you're going to take LeBron, 10 times out of 10," Andrew Perloff said. "LeBron's also had an incredible impact on the game -- it doesn't feel right to rank them against each other. We're looking at Curry at Nos. 8-10, in that area. I think a more apt debate would be Curry versus Kobe Bryant..."
Maggie and Perloff's complete thoughts on Curry's legacy can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Maggie and Perloff Show on Twitter @MaggieandPerl and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.