# What was the best NBA player rivalry of the 2010s?

> Four straight Finals, a superteam defection, a buzzer-beater wave and plenty of big-man trash talk. The decade's feuds came in every size, and some never cooled off.

*By YPB Team · Published October 27, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-was-the-best-nba-player-rivalry-of-the-2010s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry** — score 1000/1000
   The faces of four straight Finals meetings from 2015 to 2018, capped by Cleveland's 3-1 comeback in 2016.
2. **Stephen Curry vs. James Harden** — score 485/1000
   Warriors-Rockets playoff wars in 2015, 2018 and 2019 between the era's two most dangerous shooters.
3. **LeBron James vs. Kawhi Leonard** — score 485/1000
   Spurs-Heat Finals in 2013 and 2014, then Kawhi's Raptors run ended LeBron's Eastern reign.
4. **Kevin Durant vs. Russell Westbrook** — score 362/1000
   Former Thunder teammates whose 2016 split turned into one of the decade's iciest feuds.
5. **Damian Lillard vs. Russell Westbrook** — score 362/1000
   Years of trash talk that peaked with Lillard's series-ending buzzer-beater and wave in 2019.
6. **Joel Embiid vs. Andre Drummond** — score 362/1000
   Big-man trash talk and social-media jabs between the 76ers and Pistons centers in the late 2010s.
7. **Kobe Bryant vs. Dwight Howard** — score 285/1000
   A bitter split after Howard's single Lakers season, remembered for Kobe's 'Try me' on-court exchange.
8. **LeBron James vs. Paul George** — score 285/1000
   The Heat-Pacers Eastern Conference battles of 2013 and 2014 pitted LeBron against Indiana's rising wing.
9. **LeBron James vs. Paul Pierce** — score 195/1000
   A long-running Heat-Celtics grudge that peaked in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals Game 7.
10. **LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant** — score 0/1000
   Two of the decade's best scorers who met in the 2012, 2017 and 2018 Finals.

Tags: basketball, players, nba, 2010s, rivalries