Is Steph Curry the best shooter ever?

Numbers don't lie.

Six years ago today, Steph Curry made nine three-point shots in Game 2 of the NBA Finals — as his Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was — and is — the record for most three pointers made by a player in a single game in an NBA finals. And, watching it back, it’s a remarkable performance.

That night of incredible marksmanship got me to thinking about Curry — and the debate over whether or not he is the single greatest shooter in NBA history.

The numbers — and they are eye-popping — suggest he is.

Curry holds the record for most three pointers made at 3,747. That’s almost 1,000 more than the guy in second place — Ray Allen at 2,973. Curry will only extend that edge as he continues to pay in future seasons.

Now, Curry has also shot the most threes ever: 8,805. And/but, he has the second highest percentage of three pointers made (42.6%) of the 10 men who have made the most threes in the history of the NBA. (Kyle Korver is first with 42.9%.)

Which seems pretty determinative. If you are the person who has a) made the most threes ever and b) the second highest shooting percentage on threes ever, it’s pretty hard to say you aren’t the greatest shooter ever.

Curry, for what it’s worth, didn’t pick himself when asked by NBC’s Willie Geist to name the best shooter ever. “I’d say, Ray Allen,” said Curry. “I think his form, his dedication to his craft, he hit big shots in his career.”

Before we crown Curry and walk away, I would pick a single nit: The ascension of the three-point shot in the last 15 or so years in the NBA — a renaissance largely triggered by Curry — makes historical comparisons tough.

The three-point line has only been with us in the NBA since the 1979-1980 season. Dick Motta, who coached the Washington Bullets at the time, said this of the new three point line:

"It's a gimmick, but you've got to take advantage of it because other people sure will.”

"It'll open things up just a bit for the guys who are really good at it. We'll have two philosophies. There may be times we just come down the floor and it's there, or we might have a set play to get into it. The times I have in mind are like at the end of a quarter. You don't convert on those shots very often anyway, so why not try the three-pointers then?

"And then when the games are close, it can bail you out. There is certainly some strategy to be made with it and it'll prove to be interesting, but i don't think the league will attract 10,000 more fans a week because of it."

“Gimmick.” Ha!

In that first season, teams averaged 2.8 three-point attempts per game. A decade later, the number had doubled to 6.6 attempts per game. The numbers grew steadily but it wasn’t until the mid 2000s when things really changed.

This chart, via Stat Muse, shows the percentage of three point shots by teams from 2005 through this past season:

Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of threes taken per game DOUBLED. (Curry’s first year in the league was 2009-2010.)

The league, simply put, is shooting a MASSIVELY larger number of three pointers than it was a decade ago. And, for a player who played in the 1990s, the new emphasis on the three-point line makes the game virtually unrecognizable.

Take Reggie Miller, widely regarded as one of the best shooters ever. He averaged — over the course of a career that spanned from the late 1980s to the mid 2000s — 4.7 three-point shot attempts per game. The most three-points attempts Miller ever averaged in a season was 6.6 in the 1996-1997 campaign.

Now look at Curry. For his career, he has averaged 9.2 three-point shots per game — roughly double that of Miller. And, in his last four seasons, Curry has averaged 12.7, 11.7, 11.4 and 11.8 three-point shot attempts per game.

This chart from 2021 — comparing how many games it took Curry, Miller and Allen to get to their number of three pointers made — illustrates how much the game has changed:

Want an even more stark example of how the game has been transformed? Larry Bird, who is in ANY conversation about the best shooter ever, attempted less than 2 three pointers a game over the course of his career.

Of course, Bird did win the first three three-point contests ever held by the NBA (1986, 1987 and 1988). In the last one, Bird never took off his shooting jacket. Total baller move.

So, look. I DO think that Curry is the best shooter in the history of the NBA. By the time he is done — and Curry is 36 and likely will play for at least a few more years — his statistics are going to be ridiculous. He will almost certainly have taken over 10,000 three pointers and made more than 4,000 by that time. No one comes close to those numbers.

But, I also think that Curry’s gaudy stats have to be put in context. The game has changed drastically in the last 15 years. Three pointers are being shot at record rates by nearly every team. And the more you take, the more you (usually) make.

Of course, Curry, more than any other NBA player, is the one who drove that change in strategy — and made the league a three-point-shooting bonanza. He transformed the game solely by the way he played it.