Ranking all of Steph’s teammates: #14 — Shaun Livingston

During his time with the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one game. Some played in exactly one game, while others played in hundreds. Some never actually played in a game that Curry was active for, while others formed historically great partnerships with him.

And I’m ranking all 106 of them before a new season starts and he adds to the tally. Better get a move on.

Players are ranked — and stats are shown — based only on their time as Curry’s teammate. How good/bad they were in other organizations doesn’t matter. How good/bad they were on pre-2009-10 Warriors teams doesn’t matter.

#14 — Shaun Livingston

Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

Games: 367 (4th out of 106)
Points per game: 5.4 (T-55th out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 2.0 (T-70th out of 106)
Assists per game: 2.4 (T-20th out of 106)

Shaun Livingston’s per game stats with the Warriors weren’t particularly notable. For that matter, his advanced stats with the Warriors weren’t particularly notable, either.

Yet there’s a reason that a Warriors team that was frequently turning over talent to try and find an edge or market inefficiency to exploit kept him around for five whole years — and made the NBA Finals each year.

Only Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala have played more NBA games alongside Steph Curry than Livingston has. And no stats can put a number on what his value was to the dynasty.

He was a mentor for Curry and other Warriors players. He was a leader in the locker room and on the court. He set the tone with his emphasis on defense, and his willingness to play a smaller offensive role than he was accustomed to playing at other stops in his career.

He was the consummate team player, as one had to be to stay on that team for so long.

The other day I ranked Leandro Barbosa, and I mentioned one of my favorite moments of the dynasty, when Livingston and Barbosa sat in a champagne-drenched locker room in 2015. Barbosa seemed unable to speak, and Livingston calmly spoke about just what it meant to finally have a ring.

Here’s the full quote:

People don’t understand how hard the journey is to get here. 12 years. 11 years. People play their whole careers and never get a championship. We got one. We earned it, too.

And then he earned a second one, and a third one.

And now he’s right where he belongs, back in the Bay Area, working in the Warriors front office.

With fewer than 30 players left, I’m going to start listing the remaining names in alphabetic order, to help out with determining whether someone is properly ranked. Here they are:

Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, DeMarcus Cousins, Kevin Durant, Monta Ellis, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, David Lee, Kevon Looney, D’Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, David West, Andrew Wiggins