Coaching Stephen Curry feels like playing with Michael Jordan

Steve Kerr has been on both sides of greatness.

Before he became the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Kerr was a sharpshooting guard for the Chicago Bulls.

He won three consecutive NBA championships alongside Michael Jordan from 1996 to 1998.

Now, more than two decades later, Kerr is seeing something familiar from the sideline.

He sees it in Stephen Curry.

"Honestly, it really does remind me of what it was like to play with Michael Jordan back in the day," Kerr told the Sacramento Bee after a recent Warriors victory.

The quote emerged as part of a broader discussion about Curry's start to the 2026-27 season.

Kerr did not hold back.

"Every single night you just are amazed, and you marvel at what he's capable of doing no matter what the defense does," Kerr said.

He pointed to a specific element that connects the two legends.

"But also just the longevity of it," Kerr added.

Curry turned 39 years old in March 2027.

He is in his 18th NBA season, all with the Warriors.

Jordan played until age 40, retiring for the final time after the 2002-03 season with the Washington Wizards.

Kerr drew a direct line between how opponents treat both players.

"To see night after night, defenses doing everything possible to slow Steph down like they did with Michael," Kerr said.

He then listed the intangible qualities he sees in both.

"And yet the love for the game, the competitiveness, the passion, the desire to put on a show for the fans — there are such great comparisons to be made there," Kerr said.

The numbers back up Kerr's assessment.

Through six games this season, Curry is averaging 30.0 points per game.

He is also averaging 4.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

His shooting splits are elite: 46.8 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three-point range.

All of this is happening in just 28.0 minutes per game.

Curry has already delivered multiple signature performances.

Against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he exploded for 44 points.

He added eight rebounds, six assists and six made three-pointers in that game.

In the NBA Cup opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, Curry scored 31 points.

He also recorded six assists, four rebounds, one block and one steal.

He knocked down eight three-pointers in that contest.

Kerr has a unique vantage point for this comparison.

He played with Jordan during the second three-peat of the Bulls dynasty.

Kerr hit one of the most famous shots in Bulls history — a clutch jumper in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz.

Jordan trusted him with the ball in that moment.

Now Kerr watches Curry from the bench, calling plays and managing rotations.

He sees the same gravitational pull on defense that Jordan commanded.

He sees the same refusal to accept a bad game.

He sees the same joy in performing for the crowd.

Kerr is not the only person making these connections this season.

Luka Dončić of the Los Angeles Lakers recently surpassed a Jordan scoring record.

Dončić became the first player since Jordan to score more than 300 points through his first eight games of a season.

He finished with 308 points, beating Jordan's mark of 303 from the 1988-89 campaign.

Dončić is averaging 38.5 points per game to start the season.

Only Wilt Chamberlain has averaged more through eight games in NBA history.

But Kerr's comparison is different.

It is not about a single statistical milestone.

It is about the totality of what he sees every day.

Curry is playing at a level that most players never reach at any age, let alone at 39.

The Warriors are riding a five-game winning streak as of early November 2026.

Curry is the engine of that run.

Kerr has coached Curry for his entire head-coaching career, starting in 2014.

Together they have won four NBA championships: 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.

Curry has been named NBA Finals MVP twice, in 2022 and 2024.

He is a two-time league MVP, including the first unanimous MVP in NBA history in 2016.

Jordan won six championships, five MVP awards and six Finals MVPs.

Kerr was on the floor for the first three of those titles.

He watched Jordan dominate in practice, in film sessions and in games.

He watched Jordan will the Bulls to victory night after night.

Now he watches Curry do the same thing in a different era.

The game has changed.

The three-point line is more central to offense than it was in the 1990s.

Defensive rules have shifted.

But Kerr sees the same core traits.

Competitiveness. Longevity. Love for the game.

Those are the words he used.