Sports
LeBron James, Steph Curry had a 'healthy resentment' — Olympics offer something new
Follow our Olympics coverage in the lead-up to the Paris Games.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — LeBron James was genuinely thrilled to see Stephen Curry in that Bellagio hotel ballroom in Las Vegas on the eve of Team USA training camp.
Born in the same Akron, Ohio, hospital nearly four years apart, co-authors of the last great NBA rivalry, co-inhabitants of the league’s C Suite as the two most famous, respected and decorated active players, they were to join up as co-chief executives of the American Olympic team as teammates for the first time, outside of a meaningless All-Star Game.
“’Bout time, ’bout (expletive) time,” James, in a denim jacket and do-rag, said to Curry, wearing a plain white T and a black vest, when they saw each other the night of July 5, with cameras rolling and a boom mic hanging over them.
It was nearly one year ago, in late August 2023, when James called Curry to see if he was interested in joining him on the Olympic team. Now, granted, at the time of the call, there was no Olympic team yet. USA Basketball was engaged in the FIBA World Cup, a wholly separate team and event, and it is typically not up to players as to who makes the 12-man roster for any U.S. national team.
But a player the caliber of James, or Curry? If they say they want to play for Team USA, they aren’t going to be told no.
James, 39, has played 21 NBA seasons, is the sport’s all-time scoring king, a four-time champion (on three different teams; no one had led three franchises to titles before James did it), a four-time MVP and a league-record 20-time All-Star. James co-anchored the Redeem Team in 2008 and is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, as well as USA Basketball’s all-time assists leader. He is, and has been for many years, widely considered the “face” of the NBA.
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up
Buy
Curry, 36, has changed in 15 NBA seasons how the game is played — not only in the NBA, or America, but also around the world. He revolutionized the sport with a relentless aerial assault of 3-pointers, making (and shooting) more of them than any other NBA player ever, though it would be selling him way short to simply call him a great shooter. Curry encapsulates greatness as a winner (four NBA championships), performer (two-time MVP, 10-time All-Star) and as the steward of the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty.
The two of them wearing USA jerseys at the same time, sharing the same practice courts at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, or at New York University’s campus in Abu Dhabi, or on the biggest sports stage in the world, the Paris Olympics, is or will be a surreal sight for anyone privileged enough to see it, including their teammates.
“It’s just cool, I’m not going to lie,” said Tyrese Haliburton, a Team USA guard at the tender age of 24. “It’s pretty dope just for me, like when I was a kid, just watching those guys playing the finals every year. I think the more time I’m around them, the more I’ll hear stories and stuff, and that’ll be really cool because those are things that I probably wondered about when I was 15, 16.”
Will Haliburton hear about when James and Curry didn’t like each other too much? Unlikely, but it happened.
Perhaps measuring the relationship in terms of “like” or “dislike” is the wrong metric. When Curry was starring in college at Davidson, and leading the small school on a ride through the NCAA Tournament in 2008, James, already an established megastar, attended one of Curry’s games. When Curry was a rookie with Golden State in 2009-10, James invited him to his house in suburban Cleveland on an off night for the Warriors and Cavs. Curry said he could call on James occasionally for advice.
LeBron James congratulates Stephen Curry after the 2017 NBA Finals. The two stars met in four straight finals from 2015 to 2018. (Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
But from 2015 through 2018, James’ Cavs and Curry’s Warriors met every June in the NBA Finals. The first three of those series were remarkably tense, and the stress spilled onto how James, and the people close to him, thought of Curry at the time, and vice versa.
In 2015, James’ short-handed Cavs took a 2-1 series lead, only to be overcome and outlasted by a healthier, deeper Warriors team. The next year, Cleveland became the only team to ever recover from a 3-1 deficit in a finals to win; James spearheaded the comeback. And then Curry recruited Kevin Durant to the Warriors, and while they beat Cleveland in five games the following finals, the series turned on Durant’s 31 points in Game 3, including a game-winning 3-pointer over James.
From the end of the ’15 finals, just about until the nanosecond the Cavs won in ’16, people close to James often scoffed at Curry’s rising star, suggesting that Curry unfairly escaped the scrutiny James was constantly under. In an extended celebration of the 2016 championship, James hosted a Halloween party the following October with cookies decorated as tombstones, with Curry (and, to be fair, other Warriors stars) engraved on the treat.
On the other side, people close to Curry often pointed out how much drama seemed to follow James’ teams, whether it was on the Cavs, or even before that in Miami. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016, Curry’s Warriors played their first game in Cleveland since clinching the ’15 finals there seven months earlier, and Curry infamously quipped about the visitors locker room: “Hopefully, it still smells a little bit like champagne.” After the Warriors won in 2017, Curry was caught on a cell phone video at Harrison Barnes’ wedding mocking James as a dancer — with James’ about-to-be former teammate Kyrie Irving laughing hysterically.
Both Curry and James acknowledged that there was a certain tension between them that has dissipated.
“It was like a healthy resentment of somebody that’s standing in your way,” Curry said. “But through it all, like there’s obviously the utmost respect for who he is as a person and a player and like how good he is and the challenge of trying to beat him and trying to solve that problem every year.”
James nodded in agreement when a reporter suggested an apparent rivalry existed between him and Curry years ago, though he said the idea that “they should hate each other” was a false media narrative. James went on to explain why he wanted to make sure it never came to that between him and Curry.
“The game of basketball don’t last forever,” James said. “You don’t want to waste the opportunity to be able to have a relationship with someone.”
Team USA gives LeBron James and Stephen Curry a rare opportunity to be teammates. “There’s obviously the utmost respect for who he is as a person and a player,” Curry says. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
James said he and Curry “understand” that NBA fans, and media, for that matter, of a certain age still viewed how players should act toward each other through the lens of the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry of the 1980s, or of Michael Jordan’s contempt for virtually all opponents when he dominated the 1990s.
“A lot of y’all maybe grew up in the Bird-Magic era and we shouldn’t like each other, but I’m also (aware) enough to know that Isiah (Thomas) and Magic hugged and kissed each other on the floor too because it was just mutual respect,” James said. “They say Michael never talked to any of his opponents, but I’m also smart enough to know that him and Charles (Barkley) had a lot of conversations during the ’93 finals and also played golf against each other.
“So I don’t want to lose those moments (with Curry).”
James and Curry have said over the last two weeks that they’ve enjoyed watching each other in practice, gleaning how each transcendental superstar goes about his work and learning more about who they are (or, to be more precise, who they’ve become since those finals battles) off the court.
Durant, another Team USA superstar, said the relationship between James and Curry is stronger because of the tension from the previous decade, when they commanded record TV audiences in June and otherwise co-opted the center of the basketball universe, with split headquarters in Cleveland and San Francisco.
“He ain’t young Steph no more, and he’s not the Bron that you were looking up to no more — you become competitors,” Durant said, explaining how he viewed whatever it was that used to exist between James and Curry. “I think that respect level goes up even more. I think they became better friends now than they were when they went through that experience, competing with one another and being rivals, if you call it that.
“You could see that, you can see how much they respect one another.”
It is about (expletive) time.
GO DEEPER
Anthony Davis’ solid play for Team USA creates a tough question for Steve Kerr
(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Giuseppe Cacase / AFP / Getty Images, Joe Murphy / NBAE / Getty Images)
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
JALEN BRUNSON’S SISTER BLASTS ESPN AFTER STEPHEN A SMITH KNICKS RANT: ‘UTTERLY RIDICULOUS’
While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
STEVE KERR DOWNPLAYS WARRIORS OWNER’S EMAIL EXCHANGE THAT HINTED AT COACHING MISTAKES: ‘NOT A BIG DEAL’
The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
A legendary NFL coach found linebacker Rod Martin not by scouting him at USC, but almost by accident.
The Oakland Raiders had a throwaway 12th-round pick in the 1977 draft, and then-coach John Madden grew frustrated hearing his personnel executives contemplate using it on a basketball player or track guy. Finally, Madden blurted out that he could find a random kid walking around the USC campus in sandals who could make more of an impact than that.
“Ron Wolf says, ‘All right, smart guy,’” recalled Madden’s son, Mike. “So they were a couple picks away and dad goes, ‘Let me call [USC coach] John Robinson.’”
Robinson had one question: Has Rod Martin been drafted?
Raiders linebacker Rod Martin stands on the field during a game against the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 6, 1987, at the Coliseum.
(Mike Powell / Getty Images)
“Dad goes, ‘What position does he play?’” the younger Madden said. “Robinson tells him Martin is a linebacker, and dad goes, ‘Good. Tough guy we can knock around in training camp. Have him run down on kicks.’ And Robinson says, ‘No, John. Rod Martin will make your team.’”
Martin did a lot more than make the team. He would go on to set a Super Bowl record with three interceptions in one of the most dominant defensive performances in championship history.
Martin, who would play his entire 12-year career with the Oakland then Los Angeles Raiders, is dead at age 72. The Raiders announced his death Monday but did not specify a cause of death.
“The Raiders family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Martin, a standout linebacker and key player on two Super Bowl championship teams,” read a team statement.
The franchise called Martin, “a beloved member of the Raiders Family and a favorite of Raiders fans everywhere.”
A two-time Super Bowl winner and a two-time Pro Bowl selection, Martin saved his best game for the biggest stage. In Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome, he intercepted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski three times in a 27-10 Raiders victory.
“What I remember about Rod was his ability to diagnose and react,” Jaworski said by phone Monday. “In the Super Bowl, he makes two phenomenal plays. He has three interceptions, but interceptions one and two — I’d like to say they were bad decisions on my part. They weren’t. I tried to squeeze throws in. He just made a great play. He was a great athlete.”
Three years later, Martin was still a key component to the Raiders’ defense in a Super Bowl victory over Washington. He had a sack of quarterback Joe Theismann, a fumble recovery, and a fourth-and-one stop of John Riggins late in the third quarter of a 38-9 blowout.
Born in Welch, W. Va., the son of a coal miner grew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High before going on to play at Los Angeles City College and USC. The NFL saw him as a tweener, too small for linebacker at 210 pounds and too slow to play safety. Clearly, that was a faulty assessment.
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was two years behind Martin at Hamilton, and the two remained friends throughout the decades that followed.
“We met when I was a sophomore,” Moon said. “He was a senior — middle linebacker, fullback and center on the basketball team. He was the ultimate athlete. At the time I was there, I looked up to him quite a lot.
“He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he was big enough. He had the strongest hands and the strongest forearms. He could just take a tight end or whoever came to block him, grab his pads, shove him off and go make the play. He was just a real solid player.”
It was those hands that grabbed an opportunity with the Raiders and didn’t let go.
“So dad goes marching into the draft room,” Madden said, “looks at Ron and everybody else and says, ‘We’re going to take Rod Martin, linebacker, USC.’ And they did.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
New details have emerged surrounding the arrest of former Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who is facing two misdemeanor charges following a run-in with law enforcement just days ahead of the NFL Draft.
Branch, who is a projected second-round pick, was arrested early Sunday morning in Athens, Georgia, and charged with two counts of obstructing public sidewalks/streets – prowling and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates after a touchdown catch against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Nov. 28, 2025. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
He was released after more than two hours in jail after posting $39 in bonds.
The NFL Network obtained the police report from Branch’s arrest, which described an encounter over an alleged sidewalk incident with law enforcement, in which police alleged that the former Bulldogs star failed “to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands.”
“A male, later identified as Zacharia Branch, continued to stand on the sidewalk without making an attempt to move. I continued to give Zacharia Branch verbal commands to move from blocking the sidewalk and advised that if he did not, he would receive a citation for blocking the sidewalk,” the excerpt from the report read.
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch runs during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 28, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
TOP NFL DRAFT PICK ZACHARIAH BRANCH ARRESTED IN GEORGIA ON TWO MISDEMEANOR CHARGES
“Zacharia Branch smirked, then stepped backwards and to the right, then remained standing upon the public sidewalk, so as to obstruct, hinder, and impede free passage upon the sidewalk as well as impede free ingress/egress to or from the adjacent places of business,” the report continued.
“Due to those actions and Zacharia Branch’s failure to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands, he was placed under arrest for misdemeanor Obstruction of LEO and received a citation for Obstructing Public Sidewalks.”
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates with wide receiver Colbie Young after scoring a touchdown against Ole Miss during the Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 1, 2026. (IMAGN)
Branch transferred after two seasons at Southern California and immediately became quarterback Gunner Stockton’s favorite target. He finished the season with a team-high 811 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
His status as a projected second-round pick was bolstered after an impressive showing at the combine, where he clocked a 4.35-second 40-yard dash.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
-
Detroit, MI28 minutes agoMan jumps into action to save girlfriend in crash involving teen driver fleeing MSP
-
San Francisco, CA40 minutes agoSanta Rosa: The 1906 earthquake almost lost to history
-
Dallas, TX47 minutes agoJohnston scores twice, Stars hold off Wild in Game 2 to even West 1st Round | NHL.com
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoBetween Providence And Boston Is A Vibrant Massachusetts Town Bursting With Diverse Entertainment – Islands
-
Denver, CO1 hour agoMinnesota Timberwolves vs Denver Nuggets Apr 20, 2026 Game Summary
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoAthletics Beat Mariners in Seattle 6-4
-
San Diego, CA1 hour agoEl Cajon crisis unit opens, bringing county’s total to eight
-
Milwaukee, WI1 hour agoWhat to know about Michael Lock as police execute warrant on his former home