LeBron James, Stephen Curry Explain 'Resentment' Felt During Peak of Rivalry

LeBron and Steph are more friendly rivals these days.

James guarding Curry. / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James and Stephen Curry have joined forces on the men's national team for the Paris Olympics. Since LeBron joined the Lakers, they had played together during All-Star games, but they'd mostly been rivals during their shared time in the league. Especially from 2015 to 2018 when they met in the NBA Finals every year.

While they're excited to play together now, it didn't always seem like that was a possibility. Over at The Athletic, Joe Vardon has detailed the history of their ever-changing relationship and gotten the truth about their "healthy resentment." It turns out that they really didn't like each other, but in the most respectful way possible.

“It was like a healthy resentment of somebody that’s standing in your way,” Curry said. “But through it all, like there’s obviously the utmost respect for who he is as a person and a player and like how good he is and the challenge of trying to beat him and trying to solve that problem every year.”

James meanwhile acknowledged that they should have hated each other based on the way that traditional NBA rivalries look, but being LeBron James, he was aware of the truth behind many of those feuds and he didn't want to miss out on those other special moments.

“A lot of y’all maybe grew up in the Bird-Magic era and we shouldn’t like each other, but I’m also (aware) enough to know that Isiah (Thomas) and Magic hugged and kissed each other on the floor too because it was just mutual respect,” James said. “They say Michael never talked to any of his opponents, but I’m also smart enough to know that him and Charles (Barkley) had a lot of conversations during the ’93 finals and also played golf against each other."

The moment that best showed their competitiveness came during game six of the 2015 NBA Finals when LeBron blocked Curry from behind and let him know about it.

It's great that nearly a decade later they're sharing the court with a common goal. If we're lucky, they'll provide some moments as memorable as they did when they were just rivals.