On a recent podcast, a former NBA player said that when he was 25, he was a better basketball player than fan favorite and NBA champion Golden State Warrior guard Stephen Curry.
On the I Am Athlete podcast, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, who played for several teams in the NBA, most notably the Washington Wizards, claimed that some would call him crazy and disillusioned. Yet, if you listen to his logic, you may agree with the comparison.
According to Arenas, if you look at his career stats at 25 versus that of Curry before he turned 25, he’d be considered the better player.
While speaking to former NFL players Chad Johnson, Brandon Marshall and Channing Crowder, Arenas was asked to compare himself to the top NBA players. He responded that he couldn’t because the careers of his peers weren’t on the same trajectory. He also got injured when he was 25, so he could say that his career could have been better if he played injury-free based on how he was playing pre-injury.
The former Wizards player feels it’s unfair to him and everyone else to try to make a comparison based on career stats, but decided to look at it from when both players were in the league up to age 25.
“I got hurt at 25. So if you stop me at 25, Steph ain’t f**king with me. Cause you’ve got to stop him at 25. At 25, there are no three championships.
There’s only a one-time All-Star. I’m a three-time All-Star and a three-time All-NBA player by the age of 25. So, there’s not a lot of us at that age. Allen Iverson was only two times by that age. There’s only a few players that are a three-time (All-Star) at that age.”According to the San Francisco Examiner, Arenas may have a valid point if you count their scoring averages.
At 25, Curry averaged 24 points per game while dishing out 8.5 assists, shooting 47.1% from the field and 42.4% from the three-point line.
In comparison, when Arenas hit 25, he averaged 28.4 points per game, his third straight season averaging 25 points or more, while having 6.0 assists and shooting 41.8% from the field and 35.1% from the three.
They both had only one playoff series by the time they hit 25.
“If you stop me at 25, Steph Curry ain’t f––n’ wit me.” You don’t wanna miss this episode with Gilbert Arenas!