SAN FRANCISCO — LeBron James and Steph Curry have a lot in common.
They’re on the Mount Rushmore of basketball greats. They met in the Finals four straight seasons from 2015-2018. And they deeply admire each other’s games.
But they share something less desirable, too.
Both of them are aging superstars who have to transform into superheroes for their teams to have a chance in the NBA playoffs after their seasons were wildly derailed.
The 41-year-old James will head into the first round of the playoffs without Luka Doncic (strained hamstring) and Austin Reaves (strained oblique).
And the 38-year-old Curry needs to lead the Warriors to two wins in the play-in tournament without Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) to make the playoffs.
James and Curry, whose teams meet Thursday when the Warriors host the Lakers, need to put their teams on their creaky backs for them to survive.
That’s no easy task when guys a decade (or two!) younger than them are lying in wait, including the 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama and 27-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Warriors and Lakers entered this season with high expectations and the hope that their deep rosters would carry them past the gauntlet of Western Conference talent. But both rosters have been whittled down to the bones, exposing two of the top players in NBA history to loads they weren’t expected to bear on their own.
For James, this was a shock.
Just a week ago, the Lakers looked like championship contenders. They had gone on a 16-2 run. Doncic was playing MVP-caliber basketball, averaging an otherworldly 37.5 points in March. Reaves was playing at an All-Star level and averaging a career-high 23.3 points a game.
That meant James could switch gears for the first time in his career, becoming the team’s third option. He was on cruise control until last Thursday, when Doncic and Reaves sustained their injuries in a dreadful 43-point loss to the Thunder.
Now?
James has a 60.8-point hole he’s expected to fill for the fourth-seeded Lakers (50-29).
As for Curry, his challenge is similarly tricky.
He entered this season with high hopes after the Warriors went 23-8 after they acquired Butler at the 2025 trade deadline. Golden State could’ve made some real noise last postseason. but Curry suffered a hamstring injury in Game 1 of their second-round series against the Timberwolves and they crumbled in five games.
This season, things were supposed to be different.
But Butler suffered a torn ACL in January. Making matters worse, Curry just returned Sunday after missing 27 games because of a knee injury. Now, the Warriors (37-42) are in 10th place, and their survival depends on the balky joint of a player who was sidelined the last two months.
James and Curry have been through better times.
Often against each other.
James vs. Curry was one of the best rivalries in NBA history. James is arguably the greatest player of all time. And Curry is the top shooter the world has ever seen. When they collided, there were fireworks.
Curry led the Warriors to three championships against James, who was at the peak of his powers. And James orchestrated the greatest comeback in NBA history against Curry, leading the Cavaliers to roar back from a 3-1 series deficit in the 2016 Finals en route to the franchise’s first championship.
The NBA will be robbed of seeing the two stars play this season, which is a massive bummer considering James is pondering retirement. Curry will be sidelined Thursday because of his knee on the front side of a back-to-back. He also missed both of the teams’ meetings in February. James was out for their season opener because of sciatica.
It has been eight years since they cast an intoxicating spell over the NBA.
And in its place now are two franchises that are clinging to postseason relevance with a pinky finger, led by megastars who have aged like fine wine.
It’s a shame they’re in this position.
But it’s also another thrilling test for two superstars whose narratives keep overlapping.