Marks explains stunning take about ranking Steph No. 2 all time originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The oldest debate in sports just got a bit spicier.
After Steph Curry won a fourth NBA championship and finally took home the NBA Finals MVP award, ESPN's Bobby Marks believes the Warriors superstar deserves to be in the GOAT conversation with Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Right smack in the middle, in fact.
"I’m going to stun you with this take here," Marks warned the rest of the "This Just In" panel on ESPN News on Monday. "I actually think Steph Curry is the second-best player of all time, right behind Michael Jordan.
"I would put Curry ahead of LeBron James right now."
Whoa.
First, the resumes. Curry is an eight-time All-NBA guard, two-time scoring champion, two-time MVP, four-time league champion -- getting the best of James' Cleveland Cavaliers three times -- and the most recent NBA Finals MVP. Oh, and the league's all-time leading 3-point shooter.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
James, who has played six more seasons than Curry, is an 18-time All-NBA selection, one-time scoring champ, four-time MVP, four-time NBA champion and also has four Finals MVPs. He's scored the second-most points in league history (37,062) and can claim that crown from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) next season.
Local
In Marks' mind, neither player lives up to Jordan's resume: 11-time All-NBA, 10-time scoring champ, five-time MVP and six-time champion. But he sees similarities between Jordan and his No. 2 player of all time.
"Curry has this instinct, what I saw with Jordan, where any time he has the ball, you think it’s going to go in," Marks explained. "He is a threat offensively. We’ve got three or four more years of Curry in his prime right now.
RELATED: DiVincenzo looks to be Warriors' latest health success story
"I saw Jordan in his prime in the ‘90s," he later added. "Curry reminds me a lot of that offensively where he is a threat to beat you in a lot of different ways."
This means Curry will get his own "Space Jam" movie, right?
