NBA legend Carmelo Anthony strongly believes that Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry should be in the greatest-of-all-time conversation and was surprised anyone would leave him out.
Last month, Anthony appeared on an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, where he gave his two cents on the GOAT conversation.
"If you taking the GOATs right? How are you going to sit there and tell me Steph [Curry] is not in that conversation? … He has every legitimate argument."
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“If you taking the GOATs right? How are you going to sit there and tell me Steph [Curry] is not in that conversation? … He has every legitimate argument,” said Anthony.
Anthony reignited the GOAT debate with Shaquille O’Neal, pointing to Stephen Curry’s clear place in the conversation. O’Neal agreed, echoing comments he made a few months earlier.
He agreed with Anthony, noting that he was criticized for saying the same thing a few months earlier.
Anthony suggested Curry probably ranks himself behind only Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, ahead of LeBron James. O’Neal agreed, noting he faced criticism for making similar claims.
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“In Steph’s eyes, right, think about what Steph probably thinks. I don’t know, but he probably sits there and says, ‘It’s Mike, it’s Kobe, and then it’s me.’ Right? He’s not gonna put Bron over himself,” Anthony added. “But he has every legitimate argument.”
Curry, 37, has four championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), two MVPs, a Finals MVP, and has changed the game with his three-point shooting. In 2025-26, he’s averaging 28.1 points and 3.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 42.2% from three, tying Jordan for most 40-point games after age 30.
In March 2025, Curry became the first NBA player to reach 4,000 career three-pointers. O’Neal praised the milestone and said Curry deserves to be mentioned in the GOAT conversation, pointing to the way he plays the game.
“You know the way he plays the game. How he plays the game. I mentioned on our show that you should at least put his name in the conversation of the greatest player ever.”
“Definitely changed the game. Because of him … every team is shooting 3s,” O’Neal said. “They want to blame it on analytics, but it’s because everybody wanted to beat the Golden State Warriors and that guy.”
The GOAT debate is far from settled as Curry and James enter the final stages of their legendary careers. It remains to be seen whether either can win a fifth NBA championship. That being said, whichever star captures a fifth title would definitely gain a major edge in the debate.