Year-by-year, season-by-season, Steph Curry has been the league’s best 3-point shooter for some time now. But this week (as of this writing), he’s made it official: he’s the best ever. Period. Full stop.
Playing against the New York Knicks, Curry hit his 2,974th shot from outside the arc, becoming the greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history, passing up Ray Allen and Reggie Miller.
On “Inside the NBA,” the TNT crew shared thoughts and feelings on the record-setting evening. Shaq said he thinks this new record is going to stand for many years to come.
O’Neal: “By the time Steph Curry gets done playing — we don’t know what the number will be — his number will not be touched for 50 years. Nobody will even come close for the next 50 years. … We won’t be around, but my quote will be around, so write it down.”
Curry’s been hitting the longball since his college days. A smaller school on the national scene, Steph’s Davidson College got to the Elite Eight in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Maybe because he played at the smaller school in North Carolina, he wasn’t a super-high draft pick. Still, he made the top 10, becoming the seventh overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft.
Steph wasn’t really a standout superstar in his first season in the big leagues. (Nod to Shaq and his first amazing year in Orlando.) Still, he started right in with the 3-pointers, hitting a nice 43.7% of his threes his rookie season, seventh in the NBA. He progressed to becoming a 44.2% shooter by year two and a 45.5% by year three, ranking third and second, respectively.
Today as the star player of the Golden State Warriors, his golden touch remains fully on display. Steph has led the league in threes made and attempted six times and leads in both this season. His best season was 2015-16, when he canned 402 triples, an NBA record. That same year he won league MVP by a unanimous vote.
History lesson: Reggie Miller (now one of the TNT network’s NBA announcers) became the all-time leader in threes in 1998, holding onto the record for 13 years. Then in 2011, Ray Allen broke the record and held onto it until now. And as Shaq says, that record could stand for a long, long time. After all, Curry is far from done in his career. He’s got a lot of years and a lot more shots left in him.
Who’s still in the hunt and still playing? James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets is impressive, with 2,509 3-pointers made. Still, that’s about 400 fewer than Curry, and The Beard has put up more attempts, too.
Yes, the 3-point shot is popular these days, with more and more players jacking up the long shot. Still, we’re thinking that Shaq’s got it right: Steph’s record is going to stand for years to come. Nobody we’ve seen (yet) has his uncanny accuracy, and his willingness to take the long shot from anywhere on the court (anywhere!).
Shaq says 50 years… We’ll see! Stay tuned… For a long, LONG time.