T here are certain constants in our lives: north stars by which we can measure and trace the changes that occur around them as time passes us by.
For the better part of the last decade, the steady fulcrum around which the NBA has revolved has been the special ongoing rivalry between future first-ballot Hall of Famers LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Some basketball fans grew up at a time when they watched Magic Johnson and Larry Bird duke it out year after year, and other fandoms were formed during the swath of time in which extraordinary players, like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, dominated the league and had no singular, definitive rival to speak of.
Personally, basketball didn’t come into my life in a meaningful way until early adulthood, so for basically as long as I’ve been paying attention, an NBA centered around LeBron and Steph has represented the permanent blueprint.