Steph Curry believes he’s the best basketball player in the world

In the summer of 2014, Stephen Curry raised quite a number of eyebrows by responding to a question in a radio interview by proclaiming himself a better offensive player than four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and two-time NBA champion LeBron James. Now, after winning an MVP and a title of his own, leading his Golden State Warriors to the best start to a season in NBA history, and doing so while playing a bombs-away brand of ball that is somehow both unbelievably audacious and entirely reasonable given his skill-set, Steph’s dropping the qualifiers and the comparisons … and nobody’s really batting an eye.

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From an interview with Sean Gregory of TIME:

Are you the best player in the world right now?

In my mind, yes. That’s how I have confidence out there that I can play at a high level every night. I don’t get into debates, arguing with people about why I am versus somebody else. I feel like anybody who’s at the level I’m trying to be at, if you don’t think that when you’re on the floor, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. […]

If there’s one thing people can expect from you in the coming year, what would it be?

You should expect me to keep getting better.

You’re tempted to view Curry’s kicker as little more than the sort of blustering boast brought on by the self-confidence he referred to earlier. But then you remember that Curry followed up his MVP campaign by becoming the league’s most terrifying force, a seemingly unerring high-volume-shooting playmaker with consistent range the likes of which the league’s never seen, and you think, “If he could do that, what’s to say he can’t level up again?”

The 27-year-old guard is averaging eight more points per game despite playing just two more minutes per contest. He entered Wednesday shooting a career-high 52 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from 3-point range (a mere two-tenths of a point off his career high) despite taking nearly 11 triples per game, a heretofore unheard-of number. His free-throw percentage has dipped — from a pristine and league-leading 91.4 percent to a frankly appalling 89.9 percent, a mere top-five mark — but he’s getting to the line more often than ever. Despite being 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, he converts around the basket at the same clip as LaMarcus Aldridge.

Curry leads the league in scoring, True Shooting percentage (which takes into account 2-point, 3-point and free-throw accuracy) and Player Efficiency Rating. In fact, he’s currently posting the best PER ever, and no player in league history has ever carried this large an offensive load and shot this efficiently. He is on pace to set a new record for most 3-pointers made in a single season, and to do so for the third time in the last four seasons. He’s also helping on the glass more than ever, and has reduced his turnover rate despite commandeering an even larger share of the Warriors’ offensive possessions.

Even on a talent-laden Warriors team chock full of knockdown shooters and heady playmakers, Curry remains the central offensive force and organizing principle. The Warriors’ offensive efficiency mark drops by a staggering 16.4 points per 100 possessions when he sits, according to NBA.com’s stat tool. He’s also sloughed off any argument that he’s a subpar defender; he fights over screens, he gets physical with his marks, and he plays the passing lanes as well as any guard in the league. He’s not a dominant game-changer on that end, but he’s proven by playing major minutes for a top-five defense in each of the last three years that he’s no pushover, and not someone you have to hide anymore.

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All of which is to say: yeah, Stephen Curry’s really freaking good, and he has been a lot better this year than last year, which is saying something, because he was the MVP of the league last year.

Whether or not you believe he’s a fundamentally more gifted and skilled all-around player than another superstar of your choice — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Blake Griffin, Kawhi Leonard, whomever — he’s inarguably made the leap from “great shooter” to “maybe the best shooter ever” to “definitely the best shooter ever and also one of the most uniquely dominant offensive players ever.” And he’s done it while blending seemingly boundless confidence — no one could launch as many shots from as far away as quickly as Steph does without an unshakable belief in himself — with an air of approachability that’s made him not only a crossover celebrity, but also, in the eyes of many, the poster child for the current NBA product.

It’s a role Curry never set out to play, but it’s also not one that he’s shying away from. (There’s that confidence again.) More from Gregory:

Why do you think you’ve connected with NBA fans?

I don’t know, I guess I play a very creative style of basketball. I have fun out there on the court, smiling, laughing, trying to have good demeanor. And I guess I’m not the most the physically dominating guy. So probably to most fans of mine, they’re pretty surprised what I can do on the court at my size. I call it lack of athleticism. Obviously not a lack of hand-eye coordination. But not being gifted with the 40-inch vertical, or a 4.5 40, or being 6’9″, 260 lbs. That’s my best guess. […]

Your teammate Draymond Green calls you “the face of the NBA.” Do you agree?

I embrace that. I don’t know if that’s a black and white answer. You’ve got to be a winner, and have all the right trajectory as a player and as a team to back that up. Whatever comes out of that is cool. The way I try to represent my family and coaches, I think all are characteristics the league aspires to portray. That’s just who I am. It’s not changing anything about me to fulfill that role.

And yet, there are aspects of Curry’s professional life that are changing, and will continue to change, now that he’s up there with LeBron, KD, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the NBA’s most iconic and marketable players.

He says he’s “very interested in and am going to have a hand in the new direction” of the next collective bargaining agreement between the NBA’s owners and players. (“You just look at the value of teams going up on a year-to-year basis, and you follow that trend, the players should be compensated accordingly.”) He’s also begun taking more public and vocal stances on social issues that matter to him, including his participation in the NBA’s new partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety on an anti-gun-violence public service announcement that will air during the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day slate.