The NBA season has officially crossed its midway point, and the league is shifting its focus toward the 2026 All-Star Game at the Intuit Dome. This year’s festivities are already generating massive headlines, primarily due to the debut of the “Team USA vs. Team World” format and the shocking absence of LeBron James from the starting lineup for the first time in 21 years.
While the league’s younger stars have taken over the voting, 37-year-old Stephen Curry remains the face of American basketball in the Western Conference. As the only USA representative selected as a starter from the West, Curry continues to defy age, but it’s a milestone he recently reached with his head coach that highlights a level of stability LeBron James has never experienced.
Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr crack the top 10 for most wins
Since Steve Kerr arrived in the Bay Area back in 2014, the Golden State Warriors have cemented themselves as one of the most formidable dynasties in sports history. Beyond the four championship rings, the duo recently hit a regular-season milestone that speaks volumes about their longevity. With the Warriors’ latest victory over the Charlotte Hornets, Curry and Kerr recorded their 513th win together, officially passing Michael Cooper and Pat Riley for the ninth-most wins by a player-coach duo in NBA history.
While Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan’s record of 1,001 wins remains the “untouchable” gold standard, Curry and Kerr are steadily climbing toward the upper echelon of the list. If Curry remains healthy and continues his partnership with Kerr for at least two more seasons, they are projected to easily secure another 100 wins. That trajectory would catapult them to sixth all-time, surpassing legendary pairings like Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson (568 wins) and Bill Russell and Red Auerbach (532 wins).
This success isn’t limited to just Steph, either; his long-time teammate Draymond Green currently sits at 11th on the same list, just one win shy of matching the Cooper-Riley mark, ensuring that the core of the Warriors’ dynasty will finish their careers as one of the most successful groups to ever take the floor.
Why “The King” never found a permanent coaching partner
While Curry’s career has been defined by the stability of the Kerr era, LeBron James has taken a completely different path to greatness. Throughout his 23 seasons in the league, LeBron has played under ten different head coaches. It is a staggering statistic that highlights his unique ability to win regardless of who is calling the plays. LeBron has won championships with three different coaches (Erik Spoelstra, Ty Lue, and Frank Vogel) and holds the NBA record for reaching the Finals with five different lead voices on the sideline.
LeBron’s longest tenure with a single coach was his first stint in Cleveland with Mike Brown, which lasted 389 games and included a 2007 Finals appearance. His most successful run came with Erik Spoelstra in Miami, where they reached four consecutive Finals and won two titles in 294 games together. Perhaps his most iconic coaching partnership was with Ty Lue, where in 192 games they orchestrated the only 1-3 comeback in Finals history to defeat Curry’s Warriors in 2016.
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