How Absurd Is This Stephen Curry vs. LeBron James Debate?

It’s been happening for a while, but now it seems more ubiquitous than ever before: we love comparing NBA players to each other — Magic vs. Jordan, Jordan vs. Kobe, LeBron vs. Kobe, LeBron vs. Jordan, LeBron vs. Durant…and the list goes on.

Comparisons are stupid, period, because a) no two players are alike, and b) you can use all the advanced stats in the world, but there’s no singular way to determine whether Player A is better than Player B. Is it determined by the number of rings? Points per game? MVP trophies?

So then really, if we can’t settle a LeBron vs. Jordan debate, then why the hell are we starting a LeBron vs. Stephen Curry debate?

Ask Dan Patrick. He had Curry on his show Tuesday and decided it would be a good idea to ask him whether he was a better offensive player than LeBron.

Never mind that they play completely different positions. Never mind that LeBron has a full five-inch height advantage and is 65 pounds heavier than Curry. Never mind that that their skill sets make them incomparable — Curry is a pure shooter who lives on threes and creating his own shot from the outside, while LeBron is a brunt force with a wide array of post moves and uncanny talent that makes him the best player in the world. Can LeBron shoot threes like Curry? No, but can Curry muscle his way inside like LeBron? Hell no.

I don’t blame Patrick for asking the question; it’s the middle of August, NBA news has slowed to a crawl, and he needs content and questions to fill up a certain amount of time. Curry, if you haven’t heard by now, answered with himself, that he is a better offensive player than LeBron.

They talked about other things too, such as the Kevin Love trade, Paul George‘s injury, and how Curry felt about playing for Team USA. But no, nobody cares about those other interesting topics — let’s just start a debate about whether Curry is better than LeBron.

Here’s CBSSports, here’s Yahoo, here’s CSN, and here’s Bleacher Report, which was of course more than happy to stir the pot by inviting readers to “settle the debate.”

Why? Why must we “settle this debate” that wasn’t even a topic until this morning?

And what is Curry supposed to say, for that matter?

“No, I’m an inferior offensive player to LeBron.”

How would that have come out to the media and fans? That he isn’t confident, that he sets the bar low for himself. As sports fans, we are hypocrites: we want athletes to speak their minds instead of giving trite, mundane responses, but when they do — as Curry did here — we are quick to criticize and start some absurd debate.

Curry agrees:

The funny thing is that the players probably pay little attention to this nonsense. Curry is not going to think about being a better offensive player than LeBron every time he steps on the court, and LeBron is in no way going to be worried about Curry because of these comments. They’re going to work hard, collect their paychecks, and go home, while the rest of us are left debating Player A vs. Player B, continuing these preposterous comparisons.