PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s the second week of October on a cool day in Portland, and Stephen Curry has just completed a familiar morning routine: a shootaround with his teammates in advance of a preseason game later that night against the Trail Blazers, his own personal workout regimen with trusted assistant Bruce Fraser, an interview on the bench and a short conversation with the Golden State Warriors’ camera crew.

As he slowly makes his way toward a waiting bus outside Moda Center, Curry is stopped once more to discuss his impact on the game. Specifically, what’s it been like to carry the NBA’s flag for so many years alongside LeBron James.

“It is surreal,” Curry told The Athletic. “Because life flashes, life just goes so fast. And you think 17 years in and you’re still in your head able to play at a level that you know can still win games at a high level.”

Curry and James have been the standard bearers for the NBA for years. They have been — and still are — the unquestioned faces of the league. Their relationship goes back almost 20 years (even though they were allegedly born at the same hospital in Akron, Ohio). James went to see Curry’s games in college as Curry shot his way into the national conversation from Davidson, the tiny school outside Charlotte, N.C. The pair went through an icier period after Curry’s Warriors and James’ Cleveland Cavaliers went through four straight, hard-fought NBA Finals matchups.

But through all the battles, a respect has always remained between the all-time competitors. They both know what they mean to the game and how intertwined their legacies are.

Tuesday’s NBA regular-season start brings an opening-night date between Curry’s Warriors and James’ Los Angeles Lakers.

The 40-year-old James won’t be suited up for the opener because of a lingering sciatica issue, but so much of the talk surrounding any new season, any Lakers-Warriors game, centers around Curry and James. Soon thereafter, the same question hovers over each one of their matchups, as both men’s careers head down the final stretch:

Who’s next?

It’s a question league observers have been asking for years with no clear-cut answer. There are talented players all across the league, but no one generates the type of interest — combined with a high level of play — that Curry and James have for so long.

“It’s cool to kind of plant the flag for a new energy of longevity and all that, on top of becoming not just a basketball player,” Curry explained of what he and James have built in this league, “but business, philanthropy, all that stuff, creating a great framework for opportunity for the next generation of players.”

Curry’s longtime coach, Steve Kerr, won five rings as a player and four more as coach of the Warriors. He played with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, coached Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and is still leading a group with Curry and Draymond Green. He knows what it takes to win at the highest level, and he knows what kind of players resonate the most because he’s worked with many of them throughout the course of his own likely Hall of Fame basketball career. It’s why, as much as he loves Curry and respects James, he’s not concerned that a new face will eventually reveal themselves.

“You look at the history of the league and there’s just gaps,” Kerr told The Athletic. “Michael retires — there really wasn’t a gap when Magic (Johnson) and (Larry) Bird retired because Michael was right there to fill the void, but when he retired, there was a little bit of a void for sure. Eventually I think Kobe (Bryant) and LeBron filled it. But I imagine the exact same thing is gonna happen. There’s a chance for all these young, talented guys to fill the void, but it takes somebody pretty special to do that.

Curry repeatedly makes so many of the right moves on and off the floor despite living under the glare of an international spotlight. There’s almost an awe within the organization about how he carries himself and how he maintains the same steady presence day after day, year after year.

It’s the same way many peers feel about the career James has built for himself after navigating his way through extreme hype and attention before even entering the NBA in 2003. James’ play has taken his legend to the rarefied air that only the best at their craft can attain. But like Curry, his ability to connect with fans is just as important off the floor as it is on it.

“You got to be more than just a great player,” Kerr said. “You have to have charisma, you have to have grace, you have to have a connection that the fans feel. And a connection that sort of transcends fandom. Like everybody’s a LeBron fan, and everybody’s a Steph fan — everybody was a Michael fan.”

Steph Curry, LeBron James and Draymond Green talk after a January 2025 game. (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

Green is in a unique position as it pertains to any conversation about Curry and James. The Warriors’ outspoken forward has been Curry’s teammate since being drafted in 2012. He knows Curry. He loves Curry. His basketball journey is entirely intertwined with Curry at the forefront. They’ve won four championships together.

But Green also knows James. The pair has developed a strong friendship over the years. They share an agent, James’ close friend, Rich Paul. Green has played against James at the highest levels. He knows both men exceedingly well. So what does he think will happen when they ride into the sunset?

“I think a lot how you’ve heard over the last couple years, like, ‘Who’s the face?’” Green told The Athletic. “It always turns back to those guys. I think we’ll be in constant search because I don’t know anyone that can carry the way those two guys have. From a fandom standpoint, it’s one thing, but with such grace and they don’t really make mistakes. No disrespect to nobody, but the bar that they’ve set is so high.”

Green knows the search will be in a constant state of motion until the next player, or players, reveal themselves. But why is that part so difficult? Why is what Curry and James have done so much harder to emulate than what so many other star players go through under the spotlight? Green has a theory.

“Because it’s so much bigger than just the game,” Green said. “There’s a level of fandom that has to come with that, that I just don’t know how anybody’s going to reach that alone. And without that, then all the other s— that they do — the player that usually captures that part can’t do all the other (stuff).”

Green punctuated his thought with one word — “trouble” — in describing why it will be so difficult to fill both men’s shoes. But as much as he loves and respects both men, as much as he knows what each has done for the game, and for him personally, he shares Kerr’s sentiment about what will eventually happen.

“The league always figures it out,” he said.

The part that the league will struggle with is finding a pair of stars who are not only worthy of the mantle Curry and James have carried and are ready to handle the responsibility that comes with it, but who can also handle the scrutiny that comes with stardom and still live up to the moment night after night.

“It’s arguably harder than ever to fill,” Kerr said. “Because of what these guys face every day. The criticism, the judgment, the misinformation, the bulls— that’s out there. The amount of pressure on these guys is just staggering. And the number of times per day they could make a mistake — it’s crazy how vulnerable everybody is these days, to negative press or to things happening. It takes somebody who’s really, really mature and stable. Has a great family. … It takes more than just being a great player; it takes incredible poise and maturity.”

As fans and league personnel wonder who might be next in line, there’s one person who isn’t spending much time around that conversation.

“Not much at all,” Curry said, when asked how often he thinks about who the next face of the league will be. “That stuff takes care of itself. I hope there’s an energy towards being great ambassadors for the game, whoever the group of guys are, you can obviously name those between the Ja’s, the Ant’s, the Luka’s, the Wemby’s, the Shai’s and all that, JT’s (Jayson Tatum), but I don’t get caught up in that, because when I was coming up, there was never a conversation. Until you got to the finals, other people started talking about it.”

So, who does Kerr think that could be?

“I think everybody should be a Nikola fan,” Kerr continued. “Jokić. He’s so damn good. But is it different because he’s a foreign guy? Same with Luka (Dončić), is it different? Maybe there’s a part of it that has to be an American, I don’t know. But I’m not worried because the history of the league shows that there’s always more people coming along, and I have no doubt that will be the case.”

LeBron James and Stephen Curry celebrate in a game against Serbia at the Paris Olympic Summer Games. (Rob Schumacher / Imagn Images)

It remains to be seen how much longer Curry or James will play. Speculation has lingered that this could be the last of James’ illustrious 23 seasons in the NBA. Curry and James won a gold medal last summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics and clearly seemed to enjoy the moment of finally being on the same team. There aren’t many matchups left between the pair, and both men know it.

As Curry gets ready to take the step back up to the bus in Portland, he is asked one final question. After all that he and James have accomplished, do they ever talk about what they’ve helped build together and what comes next?

“A decent amount,” Curry admitted as he neared the steps on that bus in Portland. “But a lot of it is still breaking down the barriers — like I would love to do more stuff with him. We talk about that. Because obviously our schedule is so limited during the season, offseason, all that type of stuff. But it’s in the sense of finding common ground where we get to really amplify what we all bring to the table, like for business down the road, absolutely, but I’m excited about that when it happens.”

Curry and James have had their battles, but soon it will be time for them to join forces in a new chapter of a story that people will be sad to see go and excited to see what happens next — all at the same time.