Stephen Curry Not Best Player on Either Team in NBA Finals, Scottie Pippen Says

NBA legend Scottie Pippen shared his blunt assessment of Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry on ESPN's The Jump on Tuesday.

Pippen made the case Curry isn't the best player in the 2017 NBA Finals (his comments begin at the 5:17 mark below):

"I think we also have to look at it now that he's not the best player on either team," Pippen said (h/t CBSSports.com's Chris Barnewall). "Even though he's a two-time MVP. Right now, he's not the best player on his team. He's not a dominant player. He's a great player, and the things that he does on the basketball court force Cleveland to have to do things to get the ball out of his hands, but in terms of what LeBron [James] and [Kevin Durant] can do, those guys can dominate you in all areas of the game."

Some might accuse Pippen of trying to grab attention with a hot take. However, his evaluation of Curry relative to the rest of the stars on the floor in the Finals isn't all that strange.

James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and even at 32, he's still arguably the top player on the planet. He's averaging 32.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game in this year's postseason.

Durant, meanwhile, is among the top scorers of his generation and, like James, capable of impacting games in a way Curry can't.

With all that said, the Warriors were a much better team in the regular season when Curry was on the floor. According to NBA.com, they had a 17.2 net rating per 100 possessions with him on the court and a 1.0 net rating when he was off it.

And Curry hasn't been dogged by injury like he was in last year's playoffs. He averaged 28.6 points per night and shot 43.1 percent from three-point range as Golden State swept its way to the Finals.

Curry will have an opportunity to further his case as the Warriors look to avenge last year's loss to the Cavaliers in the third straight Finals meeting between the two teams.