Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is now only 10 threes away from passing Ray Allen for most threes made all time.
Curry moves into this position after splashing six triples in Wednesday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
As great an accomplishment as this will be, it has never been in question the past few years.
Ever since Curry sank a record 402 threes in the 2015-16 season, it has felt more like a matter of when not if.
This Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers could be the when.
Steph Curry is unreal. pic.twitter.com/miJmI7x2Hl
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 9, 2021
Steph has yet to make 10 threes in a game this year but has done so 22 times in his career.
The most of any NBA player ever by a monumental margin.
With the three-point record all but locked up, it is time to look ahead to what the new record will be when Steph retires.
Curry Is A Historically Great Shooter
Before we look forward, we must look back to see how we got here.
Some of Curry’s marvelous shooting feats are mentioned earlier – most threes in a season and most games making double-digit threes.
Klay is 2nd all-time in games with 10+ 3PT FGs made (5).
Steph Curry did it 22 times 😬 pic.twitter.com/LjmTLyrgaf
— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) July 15, 2021
But that only begins to paint the picture of Curry’s shooting dominance.
He holds four of the top five seasons in terms of threes made all-time.
His career shooting percentage from deep of 43.2 percent ranks seventh in NBA history.
What makes that number even more impressive is the volume he has done it on.
His 6,860 attempts rank third all-time and the six men ahead of him combine for 8,289 attempts.
Curry has only shot worse than 41 percent from three once in his 13-year career.
That came in the 2019-20 season that saw him play only five games due to injury.
The NBA has never seen a shooter of Curry’s caliber before.
His shooting prowess from deep comes on high volume and high accuracy all while being the focal point of an offense.
Looking Forward
With the past taken care of, it is now time to look forward.
As it stands, Curry has made 2,964 threes in his NBA career.
He averages 3.8 threes-made-per-game across 13 seasons, but that number is up to 5.5 this year.
And dating back to 2015, Steph is making 4.8 threes per game.
Curry is 33 now but has shown no signs of slowing down.
He had the injury-plagued 2019-20 season but missed only nine games last season and has missed only one game this season.
Steph also set a personal best in attempts per game last year at 12.7 and has so far upped that number to 13.3 this year.
It seems like he has yet to lose a step.
And even when he does lose that magic that makes him so dominant on-ball, his shooting will allow him to transition smoothly into an off-ball sniper role.
Curry is one of the most well-conditioned athletes in the NBA.
His workouts are insane, involving full-court sprints in between 10 shots from around the arc.
Aside from the one shortened year, Steph has also been remarkably healthy.
Assuming his conditioning and health keep up, Steph should have three more seasons of on-ball dominance and then another two to three more as an off-ball sniper.
"He's an alien."
How did @StephenCurry30 become the NBA's 3-point king? A combination of art and science explains his reign.
More: https://t.co/AbXss418Vm pic.twitter.com/onLxIxwtEo
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 9, 2021
Keeping pace with his 64 games per season average means Curry will play around 380 more games in his career after this season.
If we extract his numbers this year through to the end, Curry should sit right around 3,211 made threes heading into next season.
Conservatively, Steph will average four made threes across those 380 games.
Putting his total made threes in his career at 4,731.
A remarkable number for a remarkable player.
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