LeBron James and Stephen Curry Still ‘Face of The League’, Reaffirms Rick Carlisle Amidst Heated Debates 

Rick Carlisle did not waste any time regarding the NBA's 'face of the league' questions involving LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

LeBron James and Stephen Curry Still ‘Face of The League’, Reaffirms Rick Carlisle Amidst Heated Debates 

LeBron James, Rick Carlisle and Stephen Curry (Image via FirstSportz)

On Thursday night, the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder will square off in the NBA Finals. Interestingly, Tyrese Haliburton has emerged as one of the league’s top players with the Pacers, while MVP guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the Thunder. This has raised questions about who will be the league’s next face.

Even though Nikola Jokic, a star for the Denver Nuggets, is perhaps the finest player in the world, he is not highly marketable and does not have a social media presence. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle gave the straight scoop on the current state of the league debate when questioned about its face. Carlisle stressed that superstars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry are still the ‘gold standard’ in the league.

Time will tell. But Lebron James and Steph Curry, those guys are still the gold standard, really. They’re still ‘IT’, and those guys have been absolutely beyond belief.

Rick Carlisle said in the recent presser (H/T: Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints on X)

When James and Curry play, they attract a lot of attention, even though their careers are coming to a close. But it’s still unclear who will take over as the league’s marketable face once James and Curry retire. Although some might think Anthony Edwards, he has previously stated that he dislikes being known by that title.

Additionally, with the rise of international ability in today’s game, the possibilities grow more limited if the league’s face must be an American. It will be difficult to argue against Gilgeous-Alexander being the league’s face if he can win the NBA Finals.

Although American players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant have historically been the league’s faces, switching to a foreign star would demonstrate how the game is changing.

Nick Wright comes in support of LeBron James after Bill Simmons ranks him below Stephen Curry

Even though the NBA has seen some changes, two of its greatest players have remained competitive as their playing careers near end. They are Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers. NBA analyst Bill Simmons recently let out his top-15 current NBA players list, which surprisingly had Curry but not James.

Leaving LeBron James out of the list did not sit well with many, especially Fox Sports analyst Nick Wright, who chimed in on this matter. Wright claimed that James was better than Curry all season and was left baffled by Simmons’ decision to keep him off the list. In doing so, he also had a swipe at Curry.

He (James) just finished sixth in MVP voting, sixth. Firmly Second Team All-NBA. So why all of a sudden is he not one of the 15 best players in the league. You can fairly argue LeBron to be as high as fifth and as low as 10. My pall (Bill) Simmons did a top 15 player pyramid and didn’t have LeBron on that. He still has Steph Curry as the seventh best guy. There’s no way to look at this NBA season and say Steph was better than LeBron, not by (stats, team record, individual accolades, anything).

Nick Wright said via What’s Wright Show

Wright presents a convincing argument for James, who, despite being 40, had an improved season than Curry. Despite the Lakers’ failure to advance past the first round, the future Hall of Fame forward led them to another top-four seed in the Western Conference and placed sixth in the MVP race. All said and done, the two players continue to go strong in the NBA.

Dwyane Wade’s compelling case for LeBron James and Stephen Curry

The 2025 NBA Playoffs have given the impression that the torch is being passed in some fashion. The Suns, led by Kevin Durant, did not qualify for the playoffs. The Lakers, led by LeBron James, were ousted in the first round. After the second round, Steph Curry’s Warriors were sent back home. Despite all this, former NBA player Dwyane Wade made an interesting claim about James and Curry in particular.

Steph, LeBron, KD, [James Harden], [Kawhi Leonard], all these players that’s been at the top, they don’t want to give you anything… They stay there as long as you allow them to stay there. In sports, you got to just be like, ‘Hey bro, let me get that’.

Dwyane Wade said on his YouTube channel

Both James and Curry were selected to the 2024–25 All-NBA second team. There are two teams in the 2025 NBA Finals with up-and-coming young talents at the helm. Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are two of the many new talents poised to unseat the elder generation.

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