Los Angeles Lakers: Stephen Curry is this generation’s Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in NBA history. The Los Angeles Lakers legend will always be considered one of the all-time greats and sometimes fans can get a bit worked up when we compare him to other superstars or say that other superstars are better. That is what Kobe would have wanted, to influence the next generation to be like him and better.

This generation certainly has its own Kobe Bryant. It’s not LeBron James and it’s not people who Kobe was close to, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyrie Irving, or Jayson Tatum. It isn’t another two-guard like James Harden, or another big scorer, like Devin Booker, who has scored the most points since Kobe dropped 81.

It is someone with three championships and two MVPs. Someone who is extremely loyal to his franchise and means to his franchise what Kobe meant to the Lakers. Someone who is single-handily willing his team to the playoffs, similar to Kobe in the “in-between years”.

That somebody is Stephen Curry.

Stephen Curry is to the Golden State Warriors what Kobe Bryant was to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Stephen Curry is currently on an absolute tear and that is what inspired this article. Bill Simmons and Marcus Thompson compared Curry’s current run to Kobe Bryant’s 2006 season on The Bill Simmons Podcast but the comparisons are deeper than just one season.

Curry’s April is reminiscent of what Kobe did do in 2006. Since April 1, Curry is averaging 37.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He is shooting 47.6% from beyond the arc on 13.5 attempts per game. That is insane.

As mentioned, it is deeper than that. Before we get into the numerical comparisons between Steph thus far and Kobe at this point in his career, we have to talk about franchise loyalty.

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Sure, Curry got some help by Kevin Durant joining the team and nobody is going to want to leave that, but he has been nothing but loyal to the Golden State Warriors at this point of his career. There is speculation of Curry leaving Golden State after this season but it is not going to happen.

It is fun to speculate now, but it would be legitimately shocking if he didn’t sign that mega five-year extension. Even if he were to opt-out after four years that would take him through his age 36 season.

That is rare in today’s NBA. In fact, Curry is the longest-tenured player in the league to still be on the team that drafted him. The next-longest tenured player is his teammate, Klay Thompson, who was drafted in 2011.

Kobe represents a previous generation where franchise loyalty was an important thing. While there is still a long way to go in his career, Curry is following in Kobe’s path and might be the next 20-year player for one franchise.

Curry is also as important to Golden State as Kobe was to LA, if not more. Both are global icons and the Warriors will always be Curry’s team. The advantage for Curry is that Golden State does not have a long lineage of success. The Lakers do. Curry is most of the success for Golden State.

Curry also captured the youth much like Kobe did 15 years ago. I was working in a sports store from 2016-2018 and during that time I sold more Stephen Curry jerseys to kids than I did any other NBA jersey to any other age and that includes LeBron James when he signed with the Lakers.

And that was in Southern California.

As for the numbers, they are strikingly similar. Kobe has better totals through 12 years than Steph as Steph dealt with injuries last season and some ankle issues early in his career. Besides that, it is strikingly close.

Curry’s career thus far compared to Kobe Bryant’s first 12 seasons: 

That is strikingly similar. Curry even has the advantage in the advanced numbers. Curry has a better Box Plus/Minus and more win-shares per 48 minutes than Kobe had through 12 seasons. Kobe has a slight advantage in Value Over Replacement Player.

They both had three titles at this point, although Kobe had three more All-NBA nods (assuming Curry gets one this year, which he will) and three more all-star appearances. But Curry has one more MVP than Kobe did.

Some may discount Curry’s titles because of the superteam that was the Warriors but let’s not pretend like the three-peat Lakers weren’t so much better than everyone else and a big reason why was Shaquille O’Neal. In fact, Steph’s Warriors is probably the best team the league had seen since the threepeat Lakers.

Kobe Bryant got the head start as the Los Angeles Lakers drafted him out of high school, but his Achilles injury really did take years of production out of him. When it is all said and done, if Curry can stay healthy and play until he is 40, the all-time numbers between him and Kobe are likely going to be very close.

Many people view Kobe Bryant as the greatest player in Los Angeles Lakers history. Stephen Curry will go down as the greatest player in Golden State Warriors history and is this generation’s Kobe Bryant.