Stephen Curry is the best player in the NBA, former forward Kendall Gill has told Stats Perform.
Curry and the Golden State Warriors overcame the Boston Celtics in six games in the 2022 NBA Finals to land the point guard's fourth title.
It was made extra sweet for Curry by winning his first Finals MVP after averaging 31.2 points.
That prompted 2021 Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to call Curry "the best player in the world" as the main man on the NBA's premier team.
Gill agrees in part with Antetokounmpo's assessment, telling Stats Perform of Curry: "He's changed the game because he's not the huge athlete that most people think you need to be in this league.
"He's small for basketball, but I think that he's shown all these kids out here that you don't have to be a massive, huge, strong athlete to play this game of basketball at this level.
"He's changed the game as far as shooting, now you see everybody trying to shoot three-point shots.
"Back when I played, we would never do the things that the guys did today, where you actually have a lay-up, you're right in front of the basket, but then you reject it and throw it out for three, even though you're wide open under the basket.
"That's how Steph Curry has changed the game because of his elite three-point shooting.
"And in the era of super athletes and big guys, Steph is probably, in my opinion, the best player in the league right now.
"And it's not because he won a championship, I disagree with Giannis on that, but because of all of the things that he brings to the table, because of the way that he wins.
"He has a winning pedigree, his jump shot, the way that he handles the basketball, the way he gets his team-mates involved, the way that he moves without the basketball.
"You don't see anybody else able to dominate a basketball game like Steph Curry can at his size. And that's why I think that he's the best."
Gill rates the Warriors as one of the favourites to win the championship again in the coming season, with Golden State beginning the defence of their title by hosting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
"My early picks are the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets in the championship," Gill said.
"The reason why is because James Wiseman has come back and the way that he's looked in the preseason, he's going to help them out a great deal. He didn't play at all last year, was their number one pick, and at seven feet tall, he's gotten more mature.
"You throw Klay Thompson in there, you throw Steph Curry in there, Draymond Green when he's not punching [Jordan] Poole in the face, they are going to be very tough to beat out in the Western Conference.
"The Golden State Warriors just have something special. You know that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, as long as those two are on the floor for them, and they had the rest of the guys in place, they always would probably be the favourite."
Kerr demands improvements from Team USA as Olympic opener looms
United States coach Steve Kerr wants to see higher levels of intensity from his team as their Olympics campaign approaches.
Kerr was unhappy with the lacklustre displays from his side in their warm-ups against Germany and South Sudan.
Germany led 71-68 at the end of the third quarter before LeBron James conjured up 11 points in the final four minutes to give the USA a 92-88 win, while South Sudan were 20 seconds away from pulling off one of the biggest shocks in basketball history, before eventually falling to a 101-100 loss.
The USA face a dangerous Serbia side featuring reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on Sunday, and Kerr is adamant that improvements are required if they are to win a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
He said: "It's got to be 40 minutes of force and attention and focus, and we can't let teams outplay us effort and energy-wise like we did the other night against Germany, like we did against South Sudan.
“We have another level. I think we have another two levels that we can get to, but it's a collaboration, always.
"We can show them, 'Let's do this, let's do that. Let's learn personnel.'
"We got to know the shooters, know the non-shooters, all that stuff. So that's where we can help them. Where they can help themselves is just effort and energy play after play, after play. This is different."
Kerr is a four-time NBA champion as a coach, and was part of the triumphant Olympics team in Tokyo in 2021, but the Golden State Warriors boss knows the experience of the Games will only be enhanced if the USA were to come out on top again.
"This should be one of the great experiences of our lives. But the best way to make it an incredible experience is to win a gold medal," he said.
After facing Serbia, the USA will once again go up against South Sudan, this time in a competitive format, before ending the group stage with a match against Puerto Rico.
Durant warns Team USA 'everybody is a contender' in Olympic basketball tournament
Kevin Durant has warned Team USA they will not have an easy ride through the basketball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games, declaring: "Everybody is a contender".
The United States will go in search of a fifth straight men's basketball gold in the French capital, where they open their Group C campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
After that meeting with Nikola Jokic and company, the star-studded USA team featuring Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and a host of other NBA stars take on South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
With Steve Kerr having so much talent at his disposal, the roster has been compared to that of the 1992 'Dream Team', who took gold in Barcelona behind the efforts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen and other great names.
However, at a press conference ahead of Team USA's 2024 opener, Curry reminded reporters that the class of 1992 only faced nine other active NBA players.
Durant is expecting a much tougher assignment this year, responding to Curry by saying: "Everybody is a contender. Everyone is here for a reason.
"We're playing against 65 or 64 NBA players in Paris. So you know they're the best in the world."
Asked to identify the main players to watch from other nations, the Phoenix Suns forward said: "Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or Jokic."
While Durant adopted a cautious tone, Golden State Warriors star Curry was more bullish regarding the USA's gold medal hopes.
Quizzed on who he was most excited about facing, Curry simply said: "Whoever's in the gold medal game."
Knicks, head coach Thibodeau agree to three-year contract extension
The New York Knicks and head coach Tom Thibodeau have agreed to a three-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season.
New York went 50-32 last season to earn the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the semi-finals of the play-offs.
The Knicks were also ousted in the East semis in 2022-23 and reached the play-offs during Thibodeau’s first season in 2021-22, when he won his second NBA Coach of the Year award.
Prior to 2021-22, New York’s previous post-season appearance came in 2013.
The Knicks have gone 175-143 over the last four seasons under Thibodeau, who earned his first NBA Coach of the Year award in 2011 as a rookie head coach with the Chicago Bulls.
The 66-year-old Thibodeau owns a 527-389 record in 12 seasons as a head coach with Chicago, the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York.
His teams have gone 38-47 in the post-season, and Thibodeau’s only appearance in the conference finals came in his rookie head coach season.
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