Golden State Warriors: Can Stephen Curry surpass Magic Johnson’s legacy?
Likeness
Magic Johnson is one of the most beloved athletes ever, on and off the court. His smile lights up a room. His presence and charisma make people gravitate towards him. The mystique surrounding Magic Johnson is undeniable.
With everyone surrounding Magic Johnson with admiration and fervor for his talents and personality, Magic Johnson always stayed the humble giant. He was the ultimate facilitator, in everything he did. No one could put somebody else in a better position to score a bucket or close a deal than Magic.
This unselfishness about him is part of his greatness. His likability and generosity are on-par with his super stardom. No player has paralleled this until Stephen Curry came along. Most all-time greats – Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James – are polarizing. These players have a duality between love and hate.
Magic and Curry are two all-time greats who fall under a different class. They are mostly adored and loved by fans and media; Magic Johnson with his charming smile, Curry with his baby-face.
Curry’s unselfishness in aiding Kevin Durant to come to the Golden State Warriors raised himself to Magic’s level. What Curry did for Durant is what Wade did for LeBron squared. The Miami Heat weren’t back-to-back conference champs, coming off the best regular season in NBA history.
The Warriors were a ready-made championship team that didn’t need Durant. They would have been favorites to come out of the Western Conference without him. Curry was also coming off one of the most historic individual seasons, concluding with him leading the league in scoring and winning his second-straight MVP award.
Curry had to lock his ego in a box and throw away the key. Most players coming off the season Curry had wouldn’t want to bring in such a dominating force, such as Kevin Durant. But he found a way to make it work. He showed how two legends in the prime of their career can play with each other.
The unselfishness and likeness of Stephen Curry is something we haven’t seen since Magic and it will be one of the check-marks for why Curry is the greatest point guard ever.