Trying to rank anything outside the realm of mathematics is often an arbitrary exercise in futility, and Bleacher Report’s attempt at ranking the Top 50 All-Time Players in NBA History was never meant to be an exact science, but there were some eyebrows arising when they officially released their countdown Thursday.
And spoiler alert, Michael Jordan was ranked number 1 and LeBron James was 2, but that wasn’t even the most controversial part of the list.
The Top 10 was mostly clichéd, with MJ and LeBron followed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain, but one name stood out like a sore thumb.
Steph Curry was ranked no. 10… Now, Curry has had a pretty immaculate career through 10 seasons, winning three NBA Finals Championships, two MVPs, and breaking the league’s all-time total in three-pointers, but it was who he was ranked above that ticked a lot of people off.
Beating out Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robertson, and Oscar Robertson seemed like no harm, no foul, but then came Kevin Durant and even worse, Kobe Bryant.
The Curry vs. Durant argument and who exactly was the straw that stirred the drink in Golden State won’t be fully settled until the two conclude their careers, but putting him ahead of Bryant seemed like a stretch.
Bryant won five NBA Finals championships, including 2 Finals MVPs, an award Steph surprisingly never attained during Golden State’s dynasty. He also won two scoring titles, which Steph also has never won.
Bryant won one less MVP award with just one for his career, but Bryant is averaging 25.0 points per game for his career to Steph’s 23.5 points, and made 12 All-Defensive Teams, including 9 appearance on the First Team -- an underrated facet of the game Curry has always been mocked and criticized for.
Not only was Bryant ranked behind Steph, but he was four spots below Curry at 14, sandwiched between the aforementioned Olajuwon, The Admiral, and Oscar.
Twitter definitely wasn’t happy (Warning: Crude Language).