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Draymond Green Bothered by People Who Question Steph Curry's Legacy
March 10, 2021
Stephen Curry is one of the most accomplished NBA players of this generation with three NBA championships and three All-NBA first-team selections, but the Golden State Warriors star has also been a target of criticism throughout his career.
Draymond Green, who has played with Curry for his entire nine-year NBA career, appeared on ESPN's First Take to discuss why it "bothers" him to see people question the two-time MVP's legacy (starts at 0:35 mark):
Green's point stemmed from the concerns that outside observers had about Curry coming off his injury-plagued 2019-20 season when he was limited to five games.
But the criticisms of Curry go back a number of years. Sam Esfandiari, co-host of Warriors World, told Brando Simeo Starkey of The Undefeated in June 2019 that the seven-time All-Star will get compared to "players who are just not on [his] tier" whenever he has a bad game.
Former teammate Andre Iguodala told reporters during the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors he was motivated to play hurt in part to help protect Curry's legacy.
"I've never seen it in a person, such a good person, ever get some backlash or whatever from his peers because they're so jealous of what he has. So, just kind of sticking it to them," Iguodala said. "Whatever it takes to protect his legacy, I'm all for it."
Curry played the first half of this season at an MVP level. The 32-year-old is averaging 29.7 points per game on 41.1 percent three-point shooting with 6.3 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game in 35 games.
Golden State has already won four more games this season (19) than it did during the entire 2019-20 season (15). The Warriors are currently ninth in the Western Conference with a .514 winning percentage and trail the Portland Trail Blazers by three games for the fifth seed.