SAN FRANCISCO — Like at a cafeteria table in “Mean Girls,” the NBA is trying to make “Rivals Week” a thing.
Regardless of whether the marketing ploy catches on, the Warriors are hosting the Lakers on Saturday (5:30 p.m., ABC), pitting the two defining players of their generation against each other: Steph Curry and LeBron James.
From perennial NBA Finals foes to Team USA teammates, Curry and James aren’t quite rivals. But they’ve been the dueling faces of the league for the past two decades nonetheless. When they last matched up, on Christmas, it was the most-watched regular-season NBA game in five years.
Curry has led the league in jersey sales three straight years, with James not far behind him. They’ve each won four NBA championships and their teams met in the Finals four straight years, from 2015 to 2018.
Saturday is the 53rd meeting between Curry and James, including the postseason. It’s as shiny a head-to-head billing as the league has ever seen.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird only played each other 37 times. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, playing in a significantly smaller league, squared off a whopping 143 times. Michael Jordan had no challenger rise to his level, but he faced Charles Barkley 55 times and Karl Malone 36 times.
Saturday night at Chase Center won’t be the last game between Curry and James. But you might be able to count the rest of their matchups on a hand or two. And this kind of history doesn’t repeat itself.
In an ESPN interview earlier this year, Curry — who turns 37 in March — said he thinks about retirement more than ever before.
“It’s OK to accept and acknowledge that the end is near,” Curry told ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “But only because it allows you to enjoy what’s happening right now. But I think the more you talk about it and the more you acknowledge it, the more it levels up the sense of urgency in the moment, now.”
Although James said on his 40th birthday that he believes he could still play at a high level for five to seven more years, he added, “But I’m not going to do that.” He has said that he doesn’t intend to play until the wheels fall off, signaling retirement is similarly on the horizon.
They’re still elite players. All-Star starters again this year, the two have combined for 32 All-Star selections (James has the record with 21 individually). Curry is averaging 22.6 points per game and leading the league in free throw percentage while facing nightly double and triple teams. James, while he has taken a step back defensively, is shooting over 50% from the field and having one of his highest assist seasons.
The last time Curry and James squared up was the Christmas Special. Curry hit two clutch 3-pointers to tie the game, but the Lakers outlasted Golden State, with Jonathan Kuminga missing his defensive assignment on Austin Reaves’ game-winning layup.
They’ll meet at Chase Center as the fifth- and 11th-place teams in the West. Although the Lakers are 24-18 — three games ahead of Golden State — the Warriors have a slightly better point differential (+0.1 to -1.4 per game).
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Both Draymond Green and Kuminga remain sidelined with injuries. In their stead, Gui Santos and rookie Quinten Post have stepped up lately. Expect James and Anthony Davis to test Post on the defensive end.
After Saturday, the Warriors and Lakers have two more scheduled games this year — both at Crypto.com Arena. A play-in matchup is possible, but a full playoff series between Curry and James seems unlikely in the immediate future given both teams’ trajectories.
Curry and James have come a long way from the Akron General Medical Center, where both were born in the 1980s. Every matchup is worth savoring when it’s not clear how many are left.
