For years, some people around the NBA have said that Stephen Curry and LeBron James have never gotten along, which wouldn’t be a surprise considering how many battles they’ve gone through in the NBA Finals.

Both are friendly players who are often spotted talking to the other team’s star before or after games, but you rarely saw them talking to each other or even about each other, thus making this rumor make sense.

But now that they finally played together once after this year’s All-Star Game, it seems like the two of them have buried the hatchet and have been more vocal about them and the relationship they have.

Stephen Curry Speaks Up On His Relationship With LeBron James

Curry finally broke the silence on their current status following the Los Angeles Lakers’ big win over the Golden State Warriors, claiming that they’ve always respected each other even despite the trash-talking:

“Respect is always there. You have a situation where it’s not just me and him (LeBron James). It’s obviously its team’s going at each other and your competing year after year after year, and you get to see up close and personal greatness, and I think he will say the same thing,” Curry said after the game, as quoted by ClutchPoints.

“There’s obviously a lot of pettiness and competitiveness, trash-talking and all that type of stuff that went on during those runs, but that’s the fun of it all. Like you said, the respect level is always there, and the appreciation of competition at that level. Obviously, the goal now is to get back there,” he concluded.

Curry and James have more things in common than people realize. They’re two of the greatest players of all time and they were born in the same hospital in Akron, Ohio; so perhaps their destiny has always been connected.