Long time Golden State Warriors beat reporter Marcus Thompson has released a new book titled, “Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry,” in which he mentions that Steph's rapid rise to becoming a fan-favorite has made other NBA superstars grow to dislike him.
Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead recently spoke with Marcus Thompson on his podcast, who explained that LeBron James, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook are among the NBA stars that don't like Steph.
Thompson says Curry and LeBron were close but once Curry "challenged LeBron's status" it created friction between the two.
"[Curry] leapfrogged a whole lot of people," Thompson noted. "There's a whole lot of people who never got the adoration Steph gets. ... They don't like that. Players who were probably Hall of Famers [were saying] 'Nobody ever anointed me like this.'"
Thompson explained Chris Paul's stance on Steph Curry which stems from the Warriors ascending to the top of the Western Conference when the Clippers were supposed to be "next in line to win a championship."
"Everybody on the Clippers … Chris Paul was one of those guys. Chris Paul was somebody [Curry] looked up to. Chris Paul used to dominate that matchup. Chris Paul was supposed to be next in line to win a championship. Then, suddenly, it was Steph … that’s another relationship where [Curry] was like, ‘oh, I look up to you,’ and suddenly there is this disdain vs Steph. There’s a lot of those…"
Sounds like jealously to me.
And when it comes to Westbrook, "he simply doesn't like Curry," according to Thompson.