LeBron James Has Come Out To ‘Clarify’ The Shade He Threw At Steph Curry’s Unanimous MVP Win

Early last month, four-time MVP LeBron James was making sports headlines everywhere for the shade he threw at Steph Curry after Curry had been unanimously voted to win this year’s MVP award. While LeBron has said before that Curry deserved the award, he also said there’s a level of ambiguity associated with it that means:

I think sometimes the word ‘valuable’ or best player of the year, you can have different results,” said James, a four-time MVP. ”You know, that’s not taking anything from anyone that’s ever won the award.”’

”Look at Steph’s numbers,” ”He averaged 30, he led the league in steals, he was 90-50-40 (shooting percentages from the free-throw line, field and 3-pointers), and they won 73 (games). So, I don’t, do you have any debate over that, really, when it comes to that award? But when you talk about most ‘valuable’ then you can have a different conversation, so, take nothing away from him, he’s definitely deserving of that award, for sure.”

“If you do it by a year-to-year basis, I think sometimes the word ‘valuable’ or best player of the year, you can have different results,” he said.

While not everyone agrees that LeBron’s comments were an intentional diss, Curry did respond by saying “I’ve gotten really good at ignoring people…that is the theme of the last two years. I’m all right.” But now on the eve of game one of the NBA Finals, LeBron has decided it’s time to “clarify” his prior statements about Curry’s unanimous MVP win:

“First of all, I made the mistake by even answering the question because I knew where it was going to go, and I guarantee how it was phrased to Steph wasn’t how I answered the question. So obviously his reaction was what it was. And I’ve been there before as well. So Steph was definitely the MVP of our league and is the MVP in our league and is a great basketball player, and what he does for this league is amazing.

Then the question was asked if I had a vote what would the difference be between most valuable and MVP, and I gave my opinion.”(via)

Clearly, LeBron thinks the media twisted his words around to create a non-story, which was only further emphasized when he told reporters that they’re the ones who make the rivalries up:

“You guys make rivals. I mean, I think it’s great for the sport. It’s great for all sports. I don’t think me and Steph — when you talk about rivalries, you talk about Carolina-Duke, you talk about Ohio State-Michigan. It’s hard to say LeBron and Steph. If there’s a smaller scale or another word for a rival.
The fact that we’re going back-to-back I think is pretty unique.”(via)

Tl;dr: LeBron and Curry ain’t got shit against each other, but damn are they about to throw down on the court.

[H/T Uproxx]