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Steph Curry Hit With Harsh LeBron James Reality by NBA Insider

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Songco | Last updated Jun 3, 2025 10:08 AM ET

Renowned NBA analyst Bill Simmons recently made waves when he published his NBA Top 15 Player Pyramid.

The ranking went viral as it listed the 15 best players in the league, which Simmons meticulously divided into five different tiers. 2024 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets sits atop Simmons' pyramid, while newly-crowned MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and former back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo occupy level two.

Twelve other stars were listed in tiers three through five, including Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry, who is at level three.

One glaring absentee from the list, however, is Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, who, by Simmons' estimation, is no longer one of the best 15 players in the league today.

Who are the top players in the NBA right now?@BillSimmons takes stock of the league with his latest NBA top 15 player pyramid. pic.twitter.com/0sMSOxlmAC
— The Ringer (@ringer) May 28, 2025

NBA insider Nick Wright caught wind of the rankings, and the Fox Sports host just could not fathom the fact that his colleague decided to blatantly overlook James on his list.

"My pal Simmons did a top 15 player pyramid and didn't have LeBron on that," Wright said. "Now that's an outrage."

"He still has Steph Curry as like the seventh-best guy. There's no way to look at this NBA season, and say Steph was better than LeBron. Not by stats. Not by team record. Not by individual accolades. Not by any of it."

Wright's biggest qualm is the fact that Simmons listed Curry, in particular, above James. According to Wright, there's just no way Curry is a better player than James.

"Now you can say [the Warriors] made it one round further in the playoffs," Wright added. "So be it. How much of LeBron's team success this year was because they traded for Luka. Steph's team was sub .500 when they traded for Jimmy. That's a weird one for me."

"There's no way to look at this NBA season and say Steph was better than LeBron... not by stats, team record, individual accolades, not by anything."@getnickwright cannot believe @BillSimmons has LeBron James off his Top 15 players in the NBA & Steph Curry at #7 pic.twitter.com/gJbuKCX1pC
— What’s Wright? with Nick Wright (@WhatsWrightShow) June 2, 2025

It is clear how Wright feels about Curry and James, and the outspoken analyst did not hesitate to make his thoughts known.

As Wright touched on in his statement, however, both Curry and James are no longer in contention for a championship this season, which, at the end of the day, is what matters the most in the NBA.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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