Nick Young recently shared a bold take.
The former Warriors player took to X to suggest that Kyrie Irving is a better player than Stephen Curry, and people are “scared” to admit as much. He felt the debate is similar to the Michael Jordan versus Kobe Bryant comparison in that the latter was better than “His Airness” but never got his due as such.
The wording of Young’s post left many perplexed, but it was successfully translated by the brightest minds on X.
Back in 2016, the Curry versus Irving argument had real legs after the latter outperformed the Warriors sharpshooter in their epic NBA finals showdown. Over the seven games, Irving averaged more points (27.1 to 22.6), assists (3.9 to 3.7) and steals (2.1 to 0.9), besides shooting a better percentage from the field (.468 to .403) and three (.405 to .400). Ultimately, Irving’s dagger helped the Cavaliers overcome a 3-1 deficit after Curry and Co. struggled to put an exclamation point on their record-breaking 73-9 regular season.
However, in 2024, Irving does not belong in the same ballpark as Curry, regardless of any metric, accomplishment or statistical milestone that Young (or others such as him) may want to cite. Curry has three more championship rings, six more All-NBA selections, two more MVPs, one more Finals MVP, one more All-Star selection, a little more than 6,000 more career points and nearly 2,000 more career assists.
Furthermore, Curry is widely regarded as one of the two greatest point guards ever, and features on the top-10 list of all-time greats of some of his peers. After he captured his fourth NBA title in 2022, Reggie Miller said Curry “kicked down the door” and took his rightful place among the game’s greatest. Miller went as far as to say that Curry had surpassed the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain on the ladder of greatness.
Irving, meanwhile, laid an egg during the 2024 NBA finals, averaging 19.8 points while shooting .414 from the field and .276 from three.
Perhaps Young conveniently blocked out the series from his memory.
