NBA player rankings. You love them, you hate them, but you absolutely can’t ignore them, especially when they involve all-time greats and spark some serious on-air fireworks. Well, buckle up, because a new top 15 list from a certain Boston-biased media giant has a Fox Sports analyst absolutely seeing red. The main point of contention? Steph Curry landing ahead of LeBron James, a move this thoroughly irritated podcaster calls baffling, all while LeBron himself is on Instagram dropping some refreshingly honest confessions. It’s a whole lot to unpack!

So, here’s the deal: Bill Simmons, over at The Ringer, dropped his latest “top 15 NBA players” list on his podcast, and let’s just say it was, as one Reddit thread put it, “absolutely bonkers.” His top six included the usual suspects like Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Ant, Luka, and even the rookie phenom Wemby. But then came the next group, supposedly “in no particular order,” featuring Steph Curry alongside guys like Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson, and, get this, Cade Cunningham. Okay, interesting. But the real head-scratcher?

No LeBron James in that top tier. In fact, LeBron wasn’t even in the next group, which included Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Evan Mobley, and Jalen Williams (from OKC). Enter Nick Wright, who was absolutely not having any of it. On his show, Wright went off, clearly heated about what he sees as a consistent, premature downgrading of LeBron James.

“Here’s the thing about LeBron ratings that’s so irritating,” Wright fumed. “People keep prematurely downgrading him because of his age. He just finished 6th in the MVP vote. 6th. Firmly, second team All-NBA. So, why all of a sudden is he not one of the 15 best players in the league?” Good question, Nick! He argued you could fairly put LeBron anywhere from 5th to 10th, but definitely not off the list. He called Simmons not having LeBron on his 15-player pyramid an “outrage.”

But Wright wasn’t just mad about LeBron’s omission; he specifically took aim at Steph Curry’s placement (effectively in the 7-11 range) ahead of where LeBron would presumably fall if he were on the list. “He still has Steph Curry as the 7th best guy,” Wright exclaimed. “There’s no way to look at this NBA season and say Steph was better than LeBron… not by stats, team record, individual accolades, not by anything.”

And while all this debate is raging about his ranking, what’s LeBron James himself up to? Well, after the Lakers’ early playoff exit, he’s been focusing on his well-being, and he’s not afraid to talk about it. In a super candid Instagram Story on Monday, LeBron dropped this truth bomb: “Therapy showed me how to open up! It also showed me I don’t give a F😤” That’s King James, unfiltered. It’s a powerful confession, especially coming from one of the biggest athletes on the planet, showing that even the strongest among us benefit from working on their mental health.

And while LeBron is focusing on his well-being and speaking his truth, the debate about his on-court standing, especially next to a rival like Steph Curry, continues to fuel the fire for fans and analysts alike.

King James vs. Chef Curry: Who really had the better 2024-25 season?

Let’s put the hot takes aside for a second and just look at the tale of the tape for the 2024-25 campaign. LeBron, even at 40, was still putting up ridiculous numbers. In the 2024-25 NBA season, LeBron James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game. We’re talking about a guy who finished sixth in the MVP voting and was a lock for Second Team All-NBA. Think about that – in his 22nd season!

His Lakers, after that blockbuster trade to bring in Luka Doncic, definitely had championship buzz and snagged the #3 seed in the West with a solid 50-32 record. The “James family circus,” as some called it, with Bronny also in the mix, definitely kept LeBron in the headlines, and he and Steph were reportedly the two most viral players in the league this season, still commanding massive attention. Now, what about Steph?

His stats for the same 2024-25 season included 24.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game. He had his own milestones, like hitting his 4,000th career three-pointer. His Warriors, after a rocky start that had them under .500, made that big trade for Jimmy Butler and then went on a tear, finishing 23-7 with Jimmy in the lineup to grab the seventh seed and a spot in the Play-In Tournament. Steph was still Steph, a threat to go nuclear from deep on any given night. His team did make it one round further in the playoffs than LeBron’s, even if it was a short run.

So, who was “better”? It’s tough, right? Do you weigh LeBron’s higher regular-season seeding and individual honors more? Or does Steph getting his team, which was struggling mightily before the Butler trade, into the playoffs and winning a round count for more, even with slightly different statistical outputs compared to LeBron? As Nick Wright pointed out, how much do you factor in the superstar teammates? LeBron had Luka, Steph eventually had Jimmy.

At the end of the day, both these dudes are still playing at an unbelievably high level, defying Father Time. They’re still two of the biggest draws in the league, still capable of carrying their teams. Whether one was definitively “better” than the other this past season probably comes down to what you value most. But leaving LeBron completely off a top 15 list while Steph is comfortably in the top 10? Yeah, you can see why Nick Wright got heated.