New book claims Stephen Curry's rise has annoyed LeBron James, Chris Paul and others

Stephen Curry has had a meteoric rise to the top of the NBA in recent years but his relationship with other NBA stars has deteriorated, according to reports. A recently released book written by journalist Marcus Thompson II, who is a beat writer for sports in the Bay Area, explains why Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James have some sort of contempt for the Golden State Warriors superstar.

Thompson was a guest in Fox Sports Radio show, where he revealed the details of the now broken relationship between Curry and the other NBA stars. Thompson was asked about the “miraculous rise” of Curry in the NBA and how it affected his relationship with James, Paul, Westbrook and others.

“Curry takes pride in welcoming all that. Some players might say: ‘LeBron shouldn’t have done that’ … Steph is the type to take pride in being the guy who doesn’t complain. He wants you to say, at the end of his career, I never got involved with all that,” Thompson stated when asked about the rift between Curry and James.

“There’s a thing with he and LeBron that’s a little weird. There was a time when LeBron and Steph were big brother and little brother and LeBron was like a mentor. He was a big fan of Steph, went to games at Davidson, and even when [Curry] got to the NBA, they had moments where LeBron was looking at him like, ‘wow’ and then Steph kind of challenged LeBron’s status.”

Thompson further added that Curry continues to respect James but is confused of the sudden rift between them. Additionally, Paul reportedly feels some kind of disdain for Curry because of the Warriors superstar's recent success in the last two seasons.

“Everybody on the Clippers. Chris Paul was one of those guys. Chris Paul was somebody [Curry] looked up to. Chris Paul used to dominate that matchup. Chris Paul was supposed to be next in line to win a championship. Then, suddenly, it was Steph… that’s another relationship where [Curry] was like, ‘oh, I look up to you,’ and suddenly there is this disdain vs. Steph. There’s a lot of those,” Thompson added about Curry vs. other NBA greats.

Curry has risen to the top of the league with many saying that he is even a better player than James. Curry has won back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards the previous two seasons to confirm his greatness. Curry has also led his team to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances and has won one title in his career.

This season, Curry can potentially meet James for the third straight year in an NBA Finals match-up. The Warriors could also meet Paul’s Clippers in the Western Conference playoffs.

With Curry’s rise to greatness, it’s normal that the competitive nature of the sport kicks in and other rivals are jealous of the Warriors guard’s success.