LeBron James defends Steph Curry from criticism by former NBA players
LeBron James defended Stephen Curry from the criticism he has been receiving from former NBA players on Wednesday, saying “it does kind of suck” that he takes so much heat, according toUSA Today.
After the Cavaliers’ 120–111 win over the Kings, James told reporters how it can be frustrating to be ridiculed by the formerly great players he has looked up to.
“Yeah, for me personally in my career I’ve done nothing but big-up the guys who paved the way for us,” James said. “I’m respectful to all the guys who paved the way, the greats, guys who were role players, guys who were part of a championship team or was not. I’ve always been respectful, so it does kind of suck when you’ve got guys who played before us and paved the way for us (and)…they like to talk down on a lot of our players, saying, ‘Well if they played in our era it wouldn’t be the same.’”
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Curry has undergone recent criticism from Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, as well as from former players Stephen Jackson and Cedric Ceballos. Robertson said Curry would not perform as well if he had to play against older-style defenses, and Jackson and Ceballos have asserted their former teams could have beat this year’s Warriors.
Last month, Curry called the repeated scrutiny “a little annoying.”
- Erin Flynn
