Why Barkley still would pick Thomas over Steph as best small guard originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
While Charles Barkley carved out a Hall of Fame career in the NBA, these days he is known more for his takes on the Warriors and Steph Curry than his legendary prowess on the hardwood, with his recent comments on the Golden State star and Detroit Pistons great Isiah Thomas stoking the flames of controversy.
Speaking on a recent episode of “The Dan Patrick Show,” Barkley explained that he would still pick Thomas over Curry when it comes to undersized guards.
“I feel bad for Isiah because he’s the best little man ever, until Steph Curry,” Barkley said (h/t SI’s Joey Lynn). “He never probably got the credit or respect that he deserved, and so I feel bad about it.
“I got nothing but respect for Isiah because like I said, he’s the best little [player] until Steph Curry came along, and I’ll be honest with you, if I was in a game, if I had to choose — and I love Steph Curry and I know people gonna go on the internet because they ain’t got no life — if I had to choose between Steph Curry and Isiah, I’d probably go with Isiah in a scenario. But I love Steph, I love Isiah. But if I had one guy, if I had to choose between those two, I’m not going to ever choose against Isiah.”
Thomas was one of the Pistons’ key players during their “Bad Boys” era in the late-1980’s, when the team captured back-to-back NBA titles in 1988-89 and 1989-90. The Hall of Fame point guard generally is regarded as one of the best undersized players in league history, but Curry has surpassed Thomas in almost every single conceivable metric.
While Thomas has an edge over Curry in assists per game and career assists, Curry has a large advantage in scoring. Moreover, Curry has two MVP awards, four NBA titles, four All-NBA First Team selections and nine total All-NBA selections, significantly more individual and team accolades than Thomas.
Barkley and those of his era will claim that the rules were significantly different 35 years ago, with a much more physical style of play no longer allowed in the modern NBA. However, given how Curry changed the way the game of basketball is played with his incredible long-range shooting, Barkley’s reasoning falls short of being convincing.
This is not the first time Barkley has spoken critically of Curry and the Warriors, as he has been one of the franchise’s most vocal critics over the past 10 years, infamously labeling Golden State as a “jump-shooting team” — a moniker they disagreed with — and saying they’d never win a championship … right before they won the 2015 NBA Finals.
Given that Curry continues to be a dominant scoring force in the league, with a few productive years left in him, he’s not done rewriting the NBA record books and continuing to grow his legacy, putting him farther ahead of Thomas.