Chris “Mad Dog” Russo recently threw shade at Steph Curry, claiming he was just a “nice shooter” and suggesting that he doesn’t rank among the top 10 players of all time. Curry’s impact on the game, particularly with his revolutionary shooting ability and impact on the Golden State Warriors’ success, has earned him recognition as one of the greatest players of all time by many.
During an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, Russo expressed his opinion that Steph Curry doesn’t belong in the conversation about the best player in the world.
He also claimed that Steph Curry’s former teammate, Kevin Durant, was a better player than him.
“How do I make him top five ever when I got Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), Wilt (Chamberlain), (Bill) Russell, and LeBron (James) and (Michael) Jordan?” Russo said. “That’s five right there. I didn’t give you Magic (Johnson), I didn’t give you (Larry) Bird, I didn’t give you (Tim) Duncan, I didn’t give you Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal).”
“I mean, how in the world could he be top five? He’s not even better than (Kevin) Durant, and I’m not putting Durant in the top 10.”
Doubling down on his take, Russo implied Curry’s shooting was nothing exceptional.
“Listen, he’s a nice shooter. Nobody is arguing with that,” he said.
Host Molly Qerim called out Russo for disrespecting Curry.
“A nice shooter? That is disrespectful and that is messed up!” Qerim said.
A closer look at Steph Curry’s accolades
Steph Curry, selected by the Golden State Warriors as the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft, has achieved numerous accolades throughout his career. He is a four-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022 and a two-time Most Valuable Player (2014-15, 2015-16).
He was awarded the NBA Finals MVP once (2022) and became the first-ever recipient of the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP award in 2022.Curry has been selected to the NBA All-Star Game nine times (2014-2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) and won the Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player award in 2022.
He has been named to All-NBA Teams nine times: First Team four times (2014-15, 2015-16, 2018-19, 2020-21), Second Team four times (2013-14, 2016-17, 2021-22, 2022-23) and Third Team once (2017-18).
Curry led the NBA in 3-pointers made in seven seasons (2012-13 to 2016-17, 2020-21, 2021-22) and made an NBA-record 402 three-pointers in the 2015-16 season. He led the NBA in scoring in 2015-16 (30.1 ppg) and 2020-21 (32.0 ppg) and won the NBA 3-Point Contest in 2015 and 2021.
Curry still has a lot of basketball left in him. This season, he is putting up 28.0 points per game while shooting 42.1% from deep.
