When Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to the NBA championship last month while winning the Finals MVP, it caused many to view his legacy in a new light.
People had always respected him as the greatest pure shooter of all time, but some criticized him, saying that he wasn’t clutch or that he didn’t have “it.”
But it looks like those days are over.
Hall of Famer Charles Barkley recently said that Curry is now at the same level as Isiah Thomas, the great point guard for the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s.
“I thought that when Steph won the championship this year that moved him to the table with Isiah. You know because I held those two (titles) with KD against him a little bit but now this is the second time he has led a team to the championship so I moved him to the table. When you look at levels in the hall of fame, this moved him to the table with Isiah Thomas.”
It may not be quite the same thing as saying Curry is now one of the 10 greatest players ever, but it is still some mighty high praise.
Thomas Was Perhaps An Underrated Star
When people talk about the 1980s, which was the NBA’s “golden age,” they talk primarily of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving.
Thomas gets a little less publicity than those men, but he was the heart and soul of a Pistons team that went from the basement to the penthouse in that decade.
He had tremendous one-on-one skills, as well as ball-handling skills that were reminiscent of someone who grew up playing ball on the playground of the rough inner city, as he did in Chicago.
Point Guard's in NBA history who averaged 13 APG and over 20+ PPG:
Isiah Thomas
1984-85 season: 13.9 APG & 21.2 PPGNo one elsepic.twitter.com/69ugbExkLz
— Hoop History (@H00PHISTORY) June 26, 2021
Some may remember his epic duel with New York Knicks star Bernard King in the deciding contest of the first round of the 1984 playoffs.
On this day, 1984, The Pistons and Knicks completed one of the greatest first round series in NBA history. Bernard King and Isiah Thomas had a duel for the ages in Joe Louis Arena, that ended in overtime: pic.twitter.com/pA17XYlHLD
— Keith Black Trudeau (@Charlottean28) April 27, 2022
In Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals, with Detroit needing just one win to claim the world championship versus the dynastic Los Angeles Lakers, Thomas scored 25 points in the third quarter – despite a painful sprained ankle.
On this day in 1988, Isiah Thomas severely sprained his ankle in Game 6 of the NBA Finals vs. the Lakers.
Zeke played through it and went off for 25 of his 43 PTS in the 3Q 😤 pic.twitter.com/o4ztetKFXf
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 19, 2019
Unfortunately for Thomas, the Pistons couldn’t hold on, and they lost the series in seven.
But he would lead them to the next two NBA titles to ascend to a very high place in NBA lore.
Thomas was among the best clutch players in the game, and he was one of its most gifted passers to boot.
Of course, he was considered a dirty and classless player, which is thought to be the reason he wasn’t chosen to be on the Dream Team in 1992, but it doesn’t take anything away from his greatness as a player.
Trying To Compare Curry To Thomas
The two are very different players, as many feel Curry couldn’t have dealt with the ultra-physical and slow NBA of the 1990s, while Thomas wasn’t anywhere close to the outside shooter Curry is.
Thomas was clearly a better passer, as he averaged 9.3 assists a game for his career, compared to 6.5 a game for Curry.
But Curry is the more gifted scorer – he has a lifetime average of 24.3 points a game, plus two scoring titles, versus 19.2 a game for Thomas.
Plus, Curry has something Thomas never even got close to – two regular season MVP awards.
In the end, the reigning Finals MVP is not even close to being done, and he has a good chance of getting another ring and further separating himself from Curry and many other stars in league history.
NEXT: The Warriors Should Say No To A Kevin Durant Reunion