“He treated him as like, ‘I’m your big brother’; Steph just had enough of being that little brother” - Andrew Bogut on the Steph Curry-Chris Paul dynamic

If Steph Curry is healthy, the Golden State Warriors could meet Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns in a mouthwatering playoff series. The Warriors and Suns were neck and neck for the best record in the NBA earlier in the season until Phoenix just took off. If the seedings hold, they could meet in the semi-finals of this year’s postseason.

Adding more spice to the already potentially exciting battle between the two teams will be the matchup pitting Steph Curry and Chris Paul. Both will be the focal points of everything their respective teams run, so it’ll be interesting to see how the series plays out featuring these iconic players.

Andrew Bogut, Curry’s former teammate, on an episode of the Ryen Russillo podcast, revealed how the Curry-Paul relationship evolved during the Warriors and LA Clippers rivalry:

“As a Warriors, we had a really big rivalry with him [Paul], and that was built because a lot of them was on Steph. Remember those State Farm commercials where Steph was, was he Cliff Paul, was that his name? He was little brother of Chris Paul in those commercials for so long and Chris treated him like that as a person, in my opinion. He treated him as like, ‘I’m your big brother’ even when we played them.”

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The erstwhile NBA big man continued:

"And I was like, ‘Nah, we’re not doing this anymore.’ …Steph started cooking Chris Paul every time we played them…And the relationship was different then. I think Steph just had enough of being that little brother, so there’s that whole dynamics that’s why I say I love to see a healthy Golden State and a healthy Phoenix going to battle.”

In Paul’s first season with the LA Clippers, he was already a five-time All-Star and was one of the rising superstars in the NBA. He was also a two-time assists champion and four-time steals leader in the 2011-12 season.

Meanwhile, Steph Curry was only in his third year in the league, playing second fiddle to Montae Ellis. Curry also dealt with nagging ankle problems and physicality in the NBA. Despite the Warriors winning that regular-season series, Curry averaged only 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

CP3, on the other hand, had 22.3 points, 3 rebounds and 6.6 assists. In the next couple of years, though, Steph Curry will just keep on improving with almost every facet of the game. By the 2014-15 season, he was already an MVP and would win another one the following year as a unanimous winner of the biggest individual award in the NBA.

Chris Paul won the playoff series against Steph Curry during that heated Golden State Warriors versus LA Clippers rivalry

Steph Curry and Chris Paul met only once in the playoffs during CP3's time in LA. [Photo: Bleacher Report]

Chris Paul’s biggest win over Steph Curry during those Warriors-Clippers days was during the ‘14 playoffs where LA edged Golden State 4-3. The Warriors’ franchise player averaged 23 points, 3.6 rebounds and 8.4 assists. CP3, meanwhile, posted 17.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 9 assists in the hard-fought series.

Only Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Curry are the remaining Warriors that lost to the Clippers. Andrew Bogut was their starting center but didn’t play in the playoffs due to an injury while Green was backup to David Lee.

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Chris Paul played with several good basketball players at that time. Besides Griffin and Jordan, he had JJ Redick, Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes among others. They were known back then as “Lob City.”