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Stephen Curry is the best player in the NBA, former forward Kendall Gill has told Stats Perform.
Curry and the Golden State Warriors overcame the Boston Celtics in six games in the 2022 NBA Finals to land the point guard’s fourth title.
It was made extra sweet for Curry by winning his first Finals MVP after averaging 31.2 points.
That prompted 2021 Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to call Curry “the best player in the world” as the main man on the NBA’s premier team.
Gill agrees in part with Antetokounmpo’s assessment, telling Stats Perform of Curry: “He’s changed the game because he’s not the huge athlete that most people think you need to be in this league.
“He’s small for basketball, but I think that he’s shown all these kids out here that you don’t have to be a massive, huge, strong athlete to play this game of basketball at this level.
“He’s changed the game as far as shooting, now you see everybody trying to shoot three-point shots.
“Back when I played, we would never do the things that the guys did today, where you actually have a lay-up, you’re right in front of the basket, but then you reject it and throw it out for three, even though you’re wide open under the basket.
“That’s how Steph Curry has changed the game because of his elite three-point shooting.
“And in the era of super athletes and big guys, Steph is probably, in my opinion, the best player in the league right now.
“And it’s not because he won a championship, I disagree with Giannis on that, but because of all of the things that he brings to the table, because of the way that he wins.
“He has a winning pedigree, his jump shot, the way that he handles the basketball, the way he gets his team-mates involved, the way that he moves without the basketball.
“You don’t see anybody else able to dominate a basketball game like Steph Curry can at his size. And that’s why I think that he’s the best.”
Gill rates the Warriors as one of the favourites to win the championship again in the coming season, with Golden State beginning the defence of their title by hosting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
“My early picks are the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets in the championship,” Gill said.
“The reason why is because James Wiseman has come back and the way that he’s looked in the preseason, he’s going to help them out a great deal. He didn’t play at all last year, was their number one pick, and at seven feet tall, he’s gotten more mature.
“You throw Klay Thompson in there, you throw Steph Curry in there, Draymond Green when he’s not punching [Jordan] Poole in the face, they are going to be very tough to beat out in the Western Conference.
“The Golden State Warriors just have something special. You know that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, as long as those two are on the floor for them, and they had the rest of the guys in place, they always would probably be the favourite.”
