For more than a decade, every meeting between LeBron James and Stephen Curry — two of the greatest and most transformative players ever, arguably the two most towering figures of the last generation of NBA basketball, rivals turned Team USA running buddies, a couple of kids from Akron — has been appointment viewing.
At this stage in their respective transcendent careers, though, with James in Year 22 and an astounding 40 years old and Curry, a baby-faced assassin no longer, having just turned 37 and finishing up his 16th season, each one feels particularly special: something you’ve got to savor while you’ve still got the chance.
Since their first NBA Finals meeting in 2015...
— NBA (@NBA) April 3, 2025
LeBron and Steph have continued to build on their legendary careers over the last 10 seasons 📊
Tonight, a MAJOR standings battle on TNT! pic.twitter.com/YBMipyLneD
When the stars align to deliver both James’ Lakers and Curry’s Warriors in the heat of a playoff chase, with postseason seeding on the line, and with both teams in ascending form after making mammoth marquee acquisitions at the trade deadline — in case you hadn’t heard, Luka Dončić is a Laker and Jimmy Butler is a Warrior — and squaring off in a nationally televised Thursday night banger on the eve of the playoffs? Well, friend, that’s about as good as it gets.
Before LeBron and Steph (and Luka, and Jimmy, and Draymond, and Steve, and JJ, and …) renew pleasantries in Los Angeles, let’s run through a handful of things worth knowing ahead of Lakers-Warriors, one of the most anticipated matchups of the latter days of the 2024-25 NBA season:
Playoff preview?
L.A. enters Thursday at 46-29, in third place in the Western Conference, mere thousandths of a percentage point ahead of the 47-30 Nuggets. Golden State sits two games back at 44-31, fifth in the West, a half-game up on the resilient Timberwolves, rising Clippers and
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