Steph Curry Scoring Titles
A three-time NBA champion and the first player to be voted unanimous MVP, Steph Curry was ranked by ESPN as the 13th-best player in league history.
Steph Curry Scoring Titles History
ESPN, continuing with its Top 74 series, released No. 41-74 on Monday and 11-40 on Tuesday.
Curry is near the top, not just for his skill but his impact on the game of basketball itself. Nick Friedell wrote:
The greatest shooter of all time. Curry’s ability to hit shots from all over the floor changed the way the game is played.
Curry helped the Warriors return to the NBA Finals in 2017, 2018 and 2019, winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018, before being defeated by the Toronto Raptors in 2019. During the 2012–13 season, Curry set the NBA record for three-pointers made in a regular season, with 272. He surpassed that record in 2015 with 286, and again in 2016. Steph Curry will win scoring title, but fall short of MVP. This is part necessity, part opportunity.
Since 2013-14, his first All-Star season, Curry has averaged 26 points, 6.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. Over those six-plus seasons (including five 2019-20 games), he has made 4.2 3-pointers per game on 9.7 attempts, which comes out to a ridiculous 43.1%.
Of the 57 times a player has attempted at least 7.69 3-pointers per game (Curry’s 2012-13 number), Curry has four of the five best shooting percentages and seven of the best 15.
Steph Curry Scoring Titles
Prior to that 2012-13 season, only 11 times had a player attempted at least that many 3s a game.
This past season alone, 17 players did it. It’s the Curry effect.
Curry’s influence on the game is seen on every level of basketball as younger generations shoot more than ever while trying to replicate his game.
Right behind Curry at No. 14 is former Warrior Kevin Durant, a regular-season MVP winner and two-time Finals MVP.
Royce Young wrote:
Even if he retired tomorrow, he has stacked an all-time career. His eight years in OKC featured his best individual basketball, with four scoring titles and an MVP.
No matter how you view his two championships with the Warriors — both of which included Finals MVPs — they will forever be high on the bullet points of his overall resume.
Young thinks Durant could climb even higher if he returns from an Achilles injury at near-full strength.
Another title in a less controversial fashion could vault Durant into the top 10, and if he recovers to be even close to his pre-injury self, he could challenge some massive career numbers.
Curry and Durant are the two highest-ranked active players outside of LeBron James.
Curry is the second-highest point guard ranked so far, behind Oscar Robertson at 11, and will likely finish as third-best behind The Big O and Magic Johnson.
The 10 players not yet listed who are likely to make up ESPN’s top 10 in some order are, alphabetically: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Bill Russell.