Steph Curry and LeBron James go way back.
So far back, in fact, that the Los Angeles Lakers star even watched Curry over a decade ago when the Warriors guard was playing at Davidson -- a scene from the 2008 NCAA Tournament shown in Curry's new Apple TV+ documentary "Underrated."
As Curry promotes his film this week, he was asked by Sports Illustrated on Friday to describe his relationship with James in one word.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
"It's complex," Curry said, "because you go from me playing in a tournament and him coming to watch, to me coming in as a young rookie in the league and him giving me advice on how to get through some of the early struggles that I was going to go through as a player, to the four [NBA] Finals appearances in a row playing against each other, to even last year, five, six, seven years later, playing in the playoffs again.
"He's a great dude, great friend, great competitor, all of the above. But it's amazing to go back and look at where it all started at Ford Field in Detroit during a Sweet 16 game."
That March 29 game was Curry's coming-out party when it came to his status on the national stage, and James had a front-row seat to Davidson's Sweet 16 matchup with the No. 3-seeded Wisconsin. Curry and the Wildcats sent the Badgers packing in a 73-56 victory, with the future NBA star pouring in 33 points and earning the respect of many -- including James.
Golden State Warriors
“It’s pretty cool to give him something to be happy about and cheer about, and just entertain him," Curry said that 2008 night (h/t NCAA.com).
As Curry said, James was someone he was able to glean advice from after being drafted by Golden State one year later. Fast forward another six years, and James' Cleveland Cavaliers began the first of a four-year run against Curry and the Warriors in the Finals from 2015 to 2018.
Most recently, James and the Lakers knocked Curry's Warriors out of the 2023 NBA playoffs in the second round. It's a rivalry and friendship perhaps never seen before in the league -- two of the game's greatest going head-to-head for so long. And in a game of "Overrated or Underrated?" with Sports Illustrated, Curry explained why he believes the Steph-LeBron years are underappreciated.
"Underrated in the sense of it's going to be really hard to find two teams going four years in a row in the Finals, just the way the NBA landscape is going," Curry said. "That'll go down in history as four amazing years."
It certainly has been a "complex" relationship over the years. And as the 2023-24 NBA season approaches, James and Curry's story together could be far from over.