LeBron James and Stephen Curry have been arguably the two greatest basketball players of the last dozen years or so. Both have been absolutely special in their own ways, and many feel both have helped change the way the NBA game is played.
James has been credited with helping to bring "positionless" basketball to the league, while Curry and his Golden State Warriors sparked the "pace and space" revolution that made NBA basketball pretty to watch. Curry has also sparked people's imaginations with his seemingly unlimited shooting range and ability to make deep shots with multiple defenders right in his face.
Legendary center Shaquille O'Neal said on his "The Big Podcast" that Curry has influenced the game of basketball more than James has (h/t Ahn Fire Digital).
“Curry is more influential because if you look at all [expletive] basketball, it’s being played like Golden State Warriors now.”
Before the Warriors won their first NBA championship of the Curry era, the league had been mired in roughly two decades of slowdown basketball with teams almost never averaging more than 100 points a game. While the Warriors were a great defensive team whenever they have won titles, they also did so with a fast-breaking offense that put forth a high volume of 3-point shots.
The number of treys teams across the league have taken has quickly and steadily risen since Golden State won it all during the 2014-15 season. That year, the league average was 22.4 attempts per game, and just two seasons later, it reached 27 attempts a game. Two seasons after that, teams were launching an average of 32 3-pointers per contest.
With the addition of veteran star forward Jimmy Butler, the Warriors appear to be in the business of competing for championships again. The same could be said of James' Los Angeles Lakers after they landed generational superstar Luka Doncic two months ago.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: NBA great: Stephen Curry has been more influential than LeBron James
