LeBron James and Stephen Curry cultivate a ‘positive rivalry’ as they embrace new opportunities at the Olympics

Be sure to follow our Olympics coverage leading up to the Paris Games.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — LeBron James was genuinely excited to see Stephen Curry in that Bellagio hotel ballroom in Las Vegas on the eve of Team USA training camp.

Both born in the same Akron, Ohio hospital almost four years apart, co-authors of the last great NBA rivalry, and co-inhabitants of the league’s top echelon as the two most famous, respected, and decorated active players, they were set to join as co-chief executives of the American Olympic team as teammates for the first time, outside of an insignificant All-Star Game.

“‘Bout time, ’bout (expletive) time,” James, in a denim jacket and do-rag, said to Curry, wearing a plain white t-shirt and a black vest, when they reunited on the night of July 5, with cameras rolling and a boom mic overhead.

It was almost a year ago, in late August 2023, when James reached out to Curry to gauge his interest in joining him on the Olympic team. Of course, at the time of the call, there was no Olympic team yet. USA Basketball was involved in the FIBA World Cup, a completely different team and event, and player selection for any U.S. national team typically isn’t determined by the players themselves.

However, when players of James’s or Curry’s caliber express a desire to play for Team USA, they are unlikely to be turned down.

James, 39, has had a 21-season NBA career, breaking scoring records, earning four championships with three different teams, four MVP awards, and being named to a record 20 All-Star games. He was a key part of the Redeem Team in 2008 and has won two Olympic gold medals, as well as being USA Basketball’s all-time assists leader. James has long been considered the “face” of the NBA.

Curry, 36, has spent 15 NBA seasons altering how the game is played, not only in the NBA or America, but worldwide. He changed the game with his relentless 3-point shooting, making and shooting more of them than any other NBA player. Calling him just a great shooter would be an understatement. Curry represents greatness as a winner (four NBA championships), performer (two-time MVP, 10-time All-Star), and as the leader of the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty.

Seeing them both in USA jerseys at the same time, sharing the same practice facilities at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, or at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus, or on the grandest sports stage in the world, the Paris Olympics, will be a surreal sight for anyone privileged enough to witness it, including their teammates.

“It’s just cool, I’m not going to lie,” said Tyrese Haliburton, a 24-year-old Team USA guard. “It’s pretty cool for me, when I was a kid, watching those guys play in the finals every year. The more time I spend around them, the more stories I’ll hear, and that’ll be really cool because those are things I probably wondered about when I was 15, 16.”

Will Haliburton hear about the time when James and Curry weren’t exactly fond of each other? Probably not, but it did happen.

Measuring their relationship in terms of “like” or “dislike” may not be the best approach. When Curry was excelling in college at Davidson and leading the small school through the NCAA Tournament in 2008, James, who was already a superstar, attended one of his games. In Curry’s rookie year with the Golden State Warriors in 2009-10, James invited him to his home in suburban Cleveland on an off night for the Warriors and Cavs. Curry mentioned that he could seek advice from James on occasion.

LeBron James congratulates Stephen Curry after the 2017 NBA Finals. The two stars met in four straight finals from 2015 to 2018. (Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)

However, from 2015 to 2018, James’ Cavs and Curry’s Warriors faced off every June in the NBA Finals. The first three series were incredibly intense, with the stress affecting how James and those close to him viewed Curry, and vice versa.

In 2015, James’ short-handed Cavs took a 2-1 series lead but were ultimately surpassed by a healthier, deeper Warriors team. The following year, Cleveland became the only team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the finals to win; James led the charge. After that, Curry recruited Kevin Durant to the Warriors, and while they defeated Cleveland in five games in the subsequent finals, Durant’s 31 points in Game 3, including a game-winning 3-pointer over James, shifted the series.

From the end of the 2015 finals up until the moment the Cavs clinched in 2016, those close to James often dismissed Curry’s rising stardom, suggesting that he escaped the scrutiny James faced. As part of the celebrations following the 2016 championship, James hosted a Halloween party the following October, with cookies shaped as tombstones, including Curry (and other Warriors stars) engraved on them.

On the flip side, those close to Curry frequently highlighted the drama surrounding James’ teams, whether on the Cavs or previously in Miami. When Curry’s Warriors played a game in Cleveland on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016, their first visit since winning the 2015 finals there, Curry famously joked about the visitors’ locker room still smelling like champagne. After the Warriors’ victory in 2017, Curry was caught on video at Harrison Barnes’ wedding mockingly imitating James as a dancer, with Kyrie Irving, a soon-to-be former teammate of James, laughing.

Both Curry and James admitted that there was a certain tension between them that has since faded.

“It was a healthy resentment of someone standing in your way,” Curry explained. “But through it all, there is the utmost respect for who he is as a person and a player, and the challenge of trying to beat him.”.

James agreed when a reporter mentioned a past rivalry between them, but he cited the media for perpetuating the false narrative that they should “hate each other.” He emphasized the importance of maintaining a relationship with Curry beyond the basketball court.

“The game of basketball doesn’t last forever,” James said. “You don’t want to miss the opportunity to have a relationship with someone.”

Team USA gives LeBron James and Stephen Curry a rare opportunity to be teammates. “There’s obviously the utmost respect for who he is as a person and a player,” Curry says. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

James mentioned that he and Curry understand that certain NBA fans and media from a certain era still view player interactions through the lens of past rivalries. He acknowledged the mutual respect between players like Bird and Magic or Jordan and Barkley, emphasizing the importance of maintaining those moments with Curry.

Both James and Curry have expressed their enjoyment in watching each other during practice, gaining insights into how each superstar approaches their work and learning more about who they are (or have become since their finals battles) off the court.

Durant, another Team USA superstar, stated that the relationship between James and Curry has grown stronger due to the tension from the previous decade when they captivated audiences in June and dominated the basketball world, with rival bases in Cleveland and San Francisco.

“He isn’t the young Steph anymore, and he’s not the LeBron you looked up to anymore — you become competitors,” Durant said, describing the evolution of the relationship between James and Curry. “I think that respect level increases even more. I believe they’ve become better friends now than they were when they were competing against each other and being rivals, if you can call it that.

“You can see how much they respect each other.”

It’s about (expletive) time.

GO DEEPER

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(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Giuseppe Cacase / AFP / Getty Images, Joe Murphy / NBAE / Getty Images)