In the current era of the NBA, there’s hardly anyone at par with LeBron James‘ records. A 20x NBA All-Star, 4x NBA MVP, and more accolades garner the 39-year-old’s glorious career. Thus, whenever King LeBron makes it to any of the elite lists, we no longer get surprised. A sportsperson of his caliber deserves to be on the top. It was clear that James would make the 2024 Sports Illustrated: The 50 Most Influential Figures again. And well, he did. However, for some odd reasons, Stephen Curry seems to have missed the spot.

Undoubtedly, LeBron James deserved to be on SI’s 2024 Power List. However, there seems to be something odd about it. This is because the Dubs’ foreman has not made it to the list. It’s rather shocking to not find Stephen Curry among the elites, given his contribution to his country and the game recently. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, he said “Goodnight Paris” with his hands tucked under his face, as Team USA clinched yet another gold medal in basketball. Stephen Curry and LeBron James, backed by Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, became the lethal four to pin down the French side. With 24 points and that ‘baby face,’ Curry showed his worth in the game.

But it appears that these weren’t good enough reasons to bring Steph to the elite list like last year. Instead, LeBron had the upper hand this time! Meanwhile, Curry and his wife, Ayesha Curry, through their foundation, raised $25 million to help Oakland students bridge the literacy gap. The announcement was made in the last week of August on the day Steph signed a one-year extension of $62.6M with the Warriors. Curry’s ‘Eat. Learn. Play Foundation’ will fund reading and writing tutoring for about 10,000 Oakland elementary students over the next five years. Last September, the foundation also promised to raise and invest $50 million in resources for Oakland students by the end of the 2025-26 academic year.

 

At the same time, the 4x All-Star is also endorsing Kamala Harris. The forerunner for the Presidential candidature, Vice President Harris has found great support in Steph Curry’s voice. The NBA star recently stated: “It was the conviction of what you believe, being active and actually publicly endorsing her, being a part of the DNC — back in 2020 as well. I just approach everything with decency and humanity… you want to be able to foster positive conversations. You want to be able to have intelligent conversations about what’s actually happening.”

Despite giving a myriad of reasons to be on the Top List, Steph Curry missed the spot for some unknown reasons. He contributed to the sport along with LeBron James. Steph is trying his best to improve the lives of so many children from Oakland and he’s speaking his mind in light of the upcoming Presidential elections. However, these might not have been enough to be called an ‘influential’ person. But, can a list truly define or justify the might of the Baby-Faced Assassin? Never!

 

Unlike Stephen Curry, LeBron James makes his way to the Top 50 List eyt again

Yes, for the second time in a row, LeBron James has been on the SI Power List. Moreover, his multifaceted personality has influenced people worldwide. In 2023, the Lakers wingman broke the league’s all-time scoring record by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 career point total. However, even without a basketball in hand, LeBron 39 has a tremendous impact on life and more. He has been a standard bearer by repeatedly giving athletes new ways to think about business and how they use their star power.

However, the cherry on the cake this year was the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal. LeBron James who led Team USA to a monumental victory against France, also became the MVP of the tournament. Therefore, there seems to be no reason for James to not be on the Top 50 list. The GOAR – Greatest of all resume debate is a done deal in the world of basketball. There will probably be no one like LeBron James in generations to come. Players can be better than him or worse than him, but just not him. That’s the stature of one of the greatest NBA stars of all time.

On one side we have Stephen Curry who seems to have ‘no’ influence on the Influential Figures list. Meanwhile, King LeBron has yet again conquered the top spot. Nonetheless, as we said before, a list cannot define the worth of any athlete, so we leave it to the audience to decide whether Curry deserved a spot or not besides James.