LeBron James Talks 'Mutual Respect' for Stephen Curry After 'Mind the Game' Appearance

After sitting down with longtime rival Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors recently, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has a newfound affinity for the sharpshooting point guard.

After making his 2025-26 season debut in Tuesday night's 140-126 win over the Utah Jazz, James told reporters that Curry's recent appearances on the Mind the Game podcast helped their relationship evolve even further.

"There's so much mutual respect, and now it's like, just even more respect, just out of the simple fact that we can hop on a phone call or text or whatever," James said. "It was great [for] us to talk basketball in just the most easy, organic way with the two episodes and have that time, so it's been cool."

Curry and James duked it out for years while James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, meeting in the NBA Finals in four straight seasons from 2015 to 2018. Curry and the Warriors won three out of the four championship meetings, but the Cavs' win in 2016 ruined what should've been a banner year after Golden State set a new league record with a 73-9 finish to the regular season.

However, the rivalry between Curry and James has cooled off in recent years, and their relationship reached a new level when they teamed together for the first time in the 2024 Paris Olympics, leading Team USA to a fifth straight Olympic gold medal.

James spoke deeply about the history he shares with Curry, and the 40-year-old enjoyed reflecting upon how they've grown their friendship.

"When you're trying to rise to the top of the mountain, you have guys that's trying to stop me from getting there, and vice versa, and Steph has been one of those guys. Throughout our careers, we've been trying to get to the mountaintop, and we try to knock each other off of it, and that competition was brewing for a long time, and every time we play against each other, it still brews," James said. "But when you get to a certain age, and you get to a certain level, and you understand that appreciating greatness and appreciating things that you won't be able to have for a long time ever after, when you're done, you can look back on those moments. You don't want to waste an opportunity to be able to build a relationship with somebody that you kinda share some of the same, I guess, goals in life."