Former Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady boldly stated that Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry isn’t on his personal list of the 10 greatest players in the history of the NBA.
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McGrady doesn’t shy away from dropping hot takes pertaining to the NBA. Prior to the 2023-24 regular season, he said that the hype surrounding San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama — who was the top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and ended up winning the Rookie of the Year award — was too much.
“No, I’m just saying the hype is crazy to me,” McGrady said. “It’s too much, bro. I’ve seen this before. Y’all act like you haven’t seen it. That s— that Bol Bol can do? He’s just not given the real opportunity, like I think he should. That kid is skilled. [Kristaps] Porzingis was highly skilled when he first came out, just like that. And hell, he’s 7-3, too. So I’ve seen it. The hype is just crazy. But I get it. It’s the media, they’re looking for a face for the NBA, and you got to have a new star that you got to build around. Bron (LeBron James) is about to be on his way out, Steph and those guys, I get it.”
Curry’s resume arguably stacks up with almost any player of his generation. On top of being the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made, Curry has four NBA titles, 10 All-Star nods, two MVPs and two scoring titles to his name.
But, as McGrady alluded to, Curry didn’t lead the Warriors to a whole lot of collective success in recent seasons when his star teammates in Klay Thompson or Draymond Green were out of the lineup for extended periods.
First, Thompson missed the entirety of the 2020-21 regular season with an Achilles injury, and despite the fact that Curry averaged a league-high 32.0 points per game and finished third in the league’s MVP voting, the Warriors finished the truncated campaign with a 39-33 record and missed out on the playoffs.
Fast forward to the 2023-24 regular season, and Green was suspended for a significant amount of time after striking Phoenix Suns big man Jusuf Nurkic in the face. Green returned to the Warriors’ lineup in January, but Golden State failed to make the playoffs once again after the team fell to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament.
In 74 games played with Golden State in the regular season, Curry averaged 26.4 points on 45.0 percent shooting from the field and 40.8 percent from deep along with 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists per contest.
