Right now, Steph Curry is at the parade celebrating the Warriors’ fourth title in the last eight seasons.
Five years ago, Golden State had just wrapped up its second championship one week earlier, but that wasn’t enough for one ESPN reporter to consider Steph a “bet-the-house franchise-changing” talent.
On this day in 2017, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin tweeted that the only players in the NBA who fit that description were LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kevin Durant.
When asked why he wouldn’t include Curry on that list, McMenamin said the Golden State superstar was an “incredible talent” but also a “collaborative talent.”
At the time, this was a crazy tweet, considering that Curry had just won another title and was coming off back-to-back MVP campaigns, including a unanimous selection in 2015-16.
Seeing this list five years later and the fact that McMenamin put Russ, KAT and Anthony Davis on it, well, let’s just say this take didn’t age well.
Yes, Steph has played on some loaded teams in the past, including with Kevin Durant for two title runs. But the dude is a transformative talent, and his skill set is the main reason the Warriors have been able to sustain their excellence for nearly a decade.