{"id":418938,"date":"2026-01-17T11:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418938\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T11:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:01:07","slug":"stephen-curry-ranks-as-3rd-most-admired-leader-in-sports-in-2025-in-survey-lebron-james-is-24th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418938\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Curry Ranks As 3rd-Most Admired Leader In Sports In 2025 In Survey; LeBron James Is 24th"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic asked 116 individuals in North American sports to rank the five leaders they admired the most in 2025, and the results were quite interesting. There was a distinct Golden State Warriors<\/a> flavor at the top as head coach Steve Kerr<\/a> took the top spot<\/a>, while Stephen Curry<\/a> came in at No. 3. Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> superstar LeBron James<\/a>, meanwhile, was down at 24th, and here\u2019s a look at the top 25.<\/p>\n

1. Steve Kerr<\/p>\n

2. Dawn Staley<\/p>\n

3. Stephen Curry<\/p>\n

4. Geno Auriemma<\/p>\n

5. Andy Reid<\/p>\n

6. Sam Presti<\/p>\n

7. Emma Hayes<\/p>\n

8. Dan Campbell<\/p>\n

9. A\u2019ja Wilson<\/p>\n

10. Mike Tomlin<\/p>\n

11. Tom Izzo<\/p>\n

12. Jalen Hurts<\/p>\n

13. Pete Carroll<\/p>\n

14. Brad Stevens<\/p>\n

15. Patrick Mahomes<\/p>\n

16. Erik Spoelstra<\/p>\n

17. Napheesa Collier<\/p>\n

18. Nneka Ogwumike<\/p>\n

19. Sidney Crosby<\/p>\n

20. Marcus Freeman<\/p>\n

21. Aaron Judge<\/p>\n

22. Sean McVay<\/p>\n

23. Becky Hammon<\/p>\n

24. LeBron James<\/p>\n

25. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For some context, this survey was conducted in October and November 2025. Some of the notable names from the NBA world who were surveyed include Michael Cooper<\/a>, Shaun Livingston,<\/a> Jason Terry<\/a>, and Bruce Bowen<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Terry admires about Curry.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis demeanor and disposition and how he handles himself,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n

Johnny Tauer, St. Thomas men\u2019s basketball coach, waxed lyrical about the Warriors guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of our program tenets are intrinsic motivation and competitive joy,\u201d Tauer said. \u201cHe embodies these traits at levels I\u2019ve never seen another pro athlete exceed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curry\u2019s leadership was actually questioned not too long ago<\/a> when Draymond Green<\/a> was getting suspended for hitting opponents. His inability to control Green was seen as a knock against him, but the people who participated in this survey aren\u2019t holding it against him. Kerr had also gone off on those who questioned Curry\u2019s leadership<\/a> at that time.<\/p>\n

As for Kerr, who is at the top of this list, here\u2019s what former MLB MVP Dale Murphy had to say about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen things are challenging, great leaders don\u2019t separate themselves from the players,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t separate himself when things don\u2019t go well, and he sheds the praise \u2014 he deflects it \u2014 when things do go well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr and Miami Heat\u2019s Erik Spoelstra<\/a> are the only two current NBA coaches in the top 25. Two current executives made it as well, in Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> GM Sam Presti and Boston Celtics<\/a> GM Brad Stevens. The Celtics nearly had their head coach in the top 25, too, but Joe Mazzulla<\/a> ranked 28th.<\/p>\n

As for the players, three did make it, with Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> just about joining Curry and James.<\/p>\n

James being all the way down at 24th might be a surprise to some. Will Conroy, USC assistant men\u2019s basketball coach, was one of those who did have the 41-year-old on his list.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis leadership is different than what you assume most would think when it comes to leadership,\u201d Conroy said. \u201cI look at LeBron as someone that\u2019s been in a position of icon for a very long time. LeBron does not abuse that celebrity. He works extremely hard. He does not hide from his critics. He does not disappear to the community that brought him up.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is high praise. Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan has also been very impressed by James\u2019 leadership<\/a>. McMillan commended him for setting the example for everyone else to follow. James has been doing that for over two decades now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic asked 116 individuals in North American sports to rank the five leaders they admired the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-418938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}