“It was like a healthy resentment of someone that’s standing in your way.” Stephen Curry‘s quote perfectly captures his 15-year rivalry with LeBron James. Throughout their careers, they faced off against each other numerous times. The height of this rivalry was during LeBron’s second run with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Steph’s Warriors clashed with LeBron and the Cavaliers four consecutive times. Tensions flared off the court as well. In one instance LeBron reportedly threw shade at Curry’s Under Armour brand in 2015. “Who? What is that?” the King had said. A month following the comment, when Curry was at Cleveland’s arena, the sharpshooter talked about the Cavaliers locker room. “Obviously, walking in the locker room, it’ll be good memories. Hopefully, it still smells a little bit like champagne.” Cav players found the comment “disrespectful.”

Recently, an NBA insider added more depth to the rivalry. On the ‘95.7 The Game’ show, The Athletic’s Sam Amick discussed the evolving LeBron-Steph relationship. Amick noted that this bond strengthened during the 2024 Paris Olympics. He called it “surreal” to witness given the heated Cavaliers-Warriors rivalry from 2015-19. The situation was so bad that members from both organizations “didn’t always love the way that the other player was talked about.” Amick noted that “LeBron’s people did not love it when people started calling Steph the best player in the world, and there was a tension that was real.”

Amick noted that LeBron with his “massive size” often bodied Steph and made “the world see him as less than and kind of a small, younger guy. That dynamic was real.” However, going from that rivalry to the friendly bond they established during the Olympics shocked Amick. They were “genuinely clicking and having such a great time together,” he said, adding, “the kind of thing I never thought I’d see.”

Therefore, the 2024 Paris Olympics provided a refreshing change for LeBron and Curry. Now that they played together, they didn’t see themselves as rivals. The duo was able to set aside past tensions and focus solely on the game. As a bonus, Curry got back his old mentor who was ready to prop him up whenever the player was at a low point.

“Caught me off guard” – LeBron James motivated Stephen Curry during the Olympics
In his show, host Stephen Colbert asked Stephen Curry about his troubles during Team USA’s initial days in Paris. Even though he is the NBA’s leading three-point shooter, Curry only made 11, 3, and 8 points against Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico respectively. This performance shocked fans initially. Even his three-point shooting was off the mark, scoring 3-7, 0-6, and 2-6 in the first three games. The need of the hour was positive self-talk, and LeBron was there to back his NBA rival.

“Positive self-talk came out like ‘No, we are winning, I know it’s gonna come. I know a flurry is gonna come.’” Curry revealed what he said during a Q&A session after the Puerto Rico game. “As soon as I said it, LeBron walks right behind me (and) was like ‘DAMN RIGHT IT IS’ with his baritone voice. First, it caught me off guard, cause I still had to get used to be, you know, liking that guy cause of all of our battles.”

Sure enough, the flurry came. Through 12-19 field goals and 9-14 three pointers, Curry played a major role in preventing a humiliating loss against Serbia during the Semi-Finals, and then dropped 24 points in the finals to bring the gold medal home.

Curry acknowledged the boost from LeBron’s support by stating “It was definitely a confidence boost. Obviously, at the end of the day, it came at the right time.” However, when asked if the Olympic stint would bring a change in the duo’s relationship on the NBA court, he outrightly stated, “Not at all.” Yikes!