Kevin Garnett was more than a little upset by his former teammate’s assessment of Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry.
The NBA legend appeared on an All The Smoke podcast with former Boston Celtics teammate Paul Pierce as they spoke about Curry’s legacy, and Pierce admitted he was still undecided about whether the Warriors star should join belonged to the greats. Pierce said he believes Curry needs to add a few more accomplishments to his resume before he can be considered one of the top 10 to have ever played the game.
Garnett, who has compared Curry to Michael Jordan in the past, didn’t have it.
Speaking to Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the podcast’s NBA season preview, Pierce revealed that he didn’t have Curry in his all-time top 10 list. He said the two-time league MVP could be considered if he leads the Warriors to another title, but he wasn’t there yet.
Garnett vehemently disagreed, saying that Curry changed the way the game was played.
“You’re tripping,” Garnett admonished his former teammate. “The man changed the game, the way you shoot the ball. Second, he does it consistently. Any guard under six feet tall will think he is Steph Curry and shoot the ball. He will be picked up as soon as he crosses half the pitch. He changed the game, he made every guard think they had reach.”
Pierce said he had a lot of respect for the generation of players that came before him and mentioned Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, but Garnett said Curry deserved to be listed among those players.
“We were gracious to be in the MJ era, we were gracious to be in the Kob era, even Shaq, Shaq changed the game,” he said. “Man, come on, man. This man changed the game. He made every guard think they had reach.”
While he may have little left to achieve on the basketball court, this past season Curry filled one of the remaining blanks on his resume, earning his first-ever NBA Finals MVP.
Garnett has long been a huge supporter of the Warriors star. When ESPN’s Baxter Holmes interviewed Garnett for a story on the rise of Andrew Wiggins last season, he made sure he shared some love for Curry too.
“He plays with the Michael Jordan of his time,” Garnett said. “The knowledge that he has not only of Steve Kerr and that coaching staff, but also that pedigree of excellence that they’re pushing around there at the Golden State — you can’t go in there and be less than. There are champions in there. These guys won together. They were in the sand. They were in the foxhole together. I think that motivates him.”
Garnett didn’t come to that conclusion about Curry recently. Garnett compared him to Jordan as early as 2015, at the beginning of the Golden State dynasty, which has brought in four titles in eight seasons so far.
“As if Michael Jordan was a different thing altogether, [Curry] is his own thing” Garnet said back then. “It’s beautiful for basketball.”
