Stephen Curry and LeBron James are two of the top three players in the NBA. How do their seventh seasons compare to each other?
Steph Curry just completed his seventh professional season, facing off against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Let’s take a look at where each player was at this
Summary of seventh seasons
As the clock wound down on the NBA Finals and LeBron James and company completed what can only be described as an epic comeback, Stephen Curry‘s seventh season in the NBA came to a shocking (and disappointing) end. Curry was incredible throughout the regular season which ended up earning him his second career MVP award (the first unanimous MVP in NBA history). Despite the bitter ending that the Warriors and Curry faced at the end of their historic season Curry was incredible, and has risen to be one of, if not the, best player in the NBA.
Flashback back to the end of the 2009-2010 season where LeBron James had just captured his second consecutive NBA MVP award, but was still searching for his first NBA Championship. This was before James “took his talents to South Beach” and also before he delivered an NBA title to his hometown, but James was still an incredible player at this point in his career.
The case for Curry
Stephen Curry averaged 30.1 points per game this past year (which was his seventh season) and was part of an historic team, the Golden State Warriors, who broke the NBA record for most wins in an NBA season with 73. What was even more impressive about Curry’s scoring, however may have been how he was scoring (or more importantly from where). Curry shattered the NBA single season three pointers made mark this past season (one that he set the previous season) with 402 threes made.
Adding to Curry’s scoring was his passing abilities which saw Curry averaging 6.7 assists per game. Curry also rebounds much better than the “average point guard” and he showed that this past season by averaging 5.4 rebounds per game. Curry lead his team all the way to the NBA Finals and nearly captured his second NBA title at only 28 years old. Curry also averaged an impressive 2.1 steals per game last season (compared to James 1.6 steals per game).
The case for James
James averaged 29.7 points per game in his seventh season (2009-2010), slightly below Curry, but James was a more efficient scorer than Curry in that season. LeBron shot .503 from the field, which is absolutely incredible, while Curry shot a still impressive .462 from the field. At this point in James career he had still not achieved an NBA title, but was still the “King” of the league dominating pretty much since his rookie season. James and the Cavs went 61-21 in his seventh season, sending them to the playoffs.
Adding to James MVP season (one of his four by the way) the “King” also averaged 8.6 assists per game and 7.3 rebounds per game (both higher than Curry). James did not show nearly the same skill from behind the arc, however as James shot .333 from three point range in his seventh season. James also averaged one block per game, which was better than Curry’s 0.2 blocks per game (to be fair James has about 5 inches on Curry though).
The question
Which player do you think put up a more impressive seventh season?