What Would Be The NBA Equivalent Of The Tiger Effect?

While Tiger was doing his thing yesterday I saw this tweet come across my timeline and it made me think. My heart obviously went to Yabu, but I decided to give this some real thought in terms of the NBA. Who could make you stop everything you’re doing and watch a game without even changing channels during commercials? There are a lot of awesome NBA players, but if we’re talking the Tiger Effect we’re talking something truly rare. For example, I wouldn’t even say LeBron during his 3-1 comeback had the same sort of effect as Tiger does, which is why after minutes of deliberation, I feel like there is only one person that comes even remotely close (and still not as big of an effect as Tiger has on golf).

The answer is Steph Curry.

Now look I know we’re all supposed to hate Steph Curry because he’s cocky and his team is ridiculous and they always win. But remember what it was like when the Warriors were in the process of becoming the Warriors we know today. Steph Curry had people on the East coast staying up waaaaayyyyyyy past their bedtime simply because you did not want to miss a moment of what he may do on the basketball court that night. Much like the Tiger Effect you couldn’t change the channel and we were seeing him do things that nobody’s brain could comprehend

The list goes on and on. Again there are tons of unicorn players out there like Durant, LeBron, AD, Yabu, etc but none of them make you stop what you are doing and turn on a basketball game. That’s what Steph Curry has done since their run began in the 2013-14 season. I feel like even if you were a somewhat casual fan of basketball and didn’t really give a shit about the NBA or the Warriors, Steph Curry still made you watch, which is similar to what we see with golf and Tiger.

Other than his must watch performances, I also ended up on Curry because part of my requirement was like Tiger, you had to change the sport. I think it’s fair to say how Tiger plays golf forced everyone else to adapt and evolve as players, and that’s exactly what’s happened with Curry and the NBA. Because of him and the Warriors style, you see more and more teams try and emulate how they play. If in today’s NBA you can’t shoot threes you’re as good as dead, and a huge part of that is how Curry has changed the game. This style of play is hitting all levels of basketball the same way Tiger impacted all levels of golf.

As a reminder, this is not to say Curry is to the NBA what Tiger is for the PGA, but in my opinion it’s the closest thing to the Tiger Effect that the NBA has. You either love or hate Curry the same way you either love or hate Tiger, and while it doesn’t appear that Curry is the same sort of off the court freak Tiger was, when it comes to getting eyeballs on their respective sport, no one in the league currently does it better.

So do you agree or disagree? If you have someone else in mind, who would it be?