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Every day that runner’s knee keeps Steph Curry off the court is a day he can’t spend rewriting the NBA record books.
Earlier this season, Curry passed Michael Jordan for most 40-point games after turning 30. He extended his franchise record for All-Star selections. He passed Paul Pierce and moved into the shadow of Tim Duncan on the league’s all-time scoring list.
But the biggest, most sacred records to Curry’s name aren’t going anywhere.
At least not for a while.
Once he returns from his injury, Curry will keep adding to his career record of 4,233 3-pointers. And neither he nor anyone else has come close to touching his season-high of 402 3s since he set the record in 2016.
Curry revolutionized the game with his 3-point prowess and jump-shooting audacity. He entered a league that was played from the inside out, with 3-pointers often serving as an end-of-clock bailout rather than a lethal tool. Now, players have molded to Curry’s style, in which 3-pointers — and the math that comes with them — are everything.
Teams, on average, take more than twice as many 3s per game now than they did during Curry’s rookie season. Emboldened by Curry Ball, the next generation of players stretch their range and work on their jumpers much more diligently than in eras past. Even 7-footers shoot 3s now.
That environment, as long as the 3-point proliferation continues, is ripe to generate a 3-point king to overtake Curry – someday. Even Curry knows it. In an exclusive interview with The Standard in February, Curry said he “never thought” his records were unbreakable. Leave that status to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, Jerry Rice’s career receiving yards mark, or Cal Ripken’s consecutive games played streak.
In a strange twist, Curry is kind of rooting for someone to walk his records down.
“I don’t think it’s ever unbreakable,” Curry told The Standard. “But just the loftiness of what it would take to catch and surpass, knowing I’m still hopefully going to add more to the total before it’s all said and done. It’s kind of cool to have something to pay attention to over the next decade. Everything has to go right health-wise, shooting the ball consistently. … Volume is king now. So it’s probably going to be a talking point for a while.”
There are two young players on Curry’s radar: Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel. The former has made the most 3s ever at his ag (opens in new tab)e and the latter is leading the league as a rookie. The Warriors played both of them in the month leading up to the All-Star break, and they agreed that, while Curry’s records are daunting, his career 3-pointer mark is more realistically attainable than the 402 season.
“I think I’m going to catch him,” Edwards, Curry’s bombastic Olympic teammate, told The Standard.
The fact that Edwards became such an excellent 3-point shooter is a developmental miracle in itself. The knock on him coming out of Georgia was that his jumper lagged behind his other special tools. In short order, he turned himself into one of the league’s best high-volume shooters. Edwards has logged a league-best 47 games of at least five made 3s since the start of last season, edging past Curry, who has 44.
Edwards has 20 games left of his sixth NBA season. Through Curry’s first six seasons, he converted 1,191 3-pointers. Edwards is already at 1,289.
Yet catching Curry will require years of consistent shooting production. Curry’s current injury, which will knock him out at least four more games, is a reminder of how much health plays a factor in accumulating counting stats. Curry is still the only player to eclipse 4,000 3s (only James Harden has more than 3,000), hitting an average of 4.5 per game for 16 seasons.
It’s too soon to project another decade of health and 3-point pace for Edwards. It’s even harder to do so for Knueppel, who’s merely a rookie.
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But the fact that Knueppel is even mentioned in these conversations is a stamp on his remarkable first season.
“He might catch him,” Edwards, 24, said. “The white boy from Charlotte, right? He’s good. … Either me or Kon Knueppel. I’m a big fan of Kon Knueppel. He can really shoot the ball.”
Knueppel became the fastest player ever to reach 100 3s, doing so in 29 games; the previous record was 41. He has already passed Curry’s rookie record for most 20-point games on 50/40/90 shooting — a shooter’s holy trinity.
But Knueppel is more than just a novelty; he’s having one of the most impressive shooting seasons ever (opens in new tab). While Curry was sidelined, Knueppel became the fastest player ever to reach 200 3-pointers and last week set the rookie record for made triples.
He’s shooting 43.5% from deep and could become the first rookie ever to hit 40% of his 3s while taking at least eight per game.
No rookie as recent as a decade ago would’ve even been permitted to take eight 3s per game. Knueppel recognizes how much things have changed yet how strong Curry’s 2016 record has remained.
“I think the 400 3s in a season … I view that as pretty close to unbreakable,” Knueppel told The Standard. “It’s up there in NBA history. I don’t know if the total is as unbreakable, just because early in his career, he missed some games, missed some times with the ankles, but also just wasn’t shooting as many as maybe players are shooting them today.”
The closest anyone has come to Curry’s 2016 3-point volume was Harden in 2018-19. Yet even then, Harden finished with 378 — at least a week’s worth of 3s shy of Curry.
“When James was close, that got a little scary,” Curry said. “Halfway through the season, seeing if he could keep that pace up.”
It’s no coincidence that Curry hit 402 3-pointers the year the Warriors went 73-9. He shot a blistering 45.4% on 11.2 attempts per game, and joined the 50/40/90 club that year, too. Entering the season finale, he needed eight 3s to cross 400. He went 10 for 19 in Oracle Arena.
“I don’t think nobody wants to beat Steph’s records, man,” Edwards said. “It’s Steph Curry. I think nobody’s out here like, ‘I’m gonna go get 400 3s this year.’ Ain’t nobody thinking like that but Steph Curry.”
Edwards’ high for a season is 320. Knueppel is on pace to get within striking distance of 300 as a rookie. To reach 400 3-pointers in a season, a player needs to hit five a game and basically play the entire season.
For the time being, no one’s doing that. But the race for 4,000 is on. And Curry, even after he retires, won’t miss it. A “chase,” he said, will be reason for him to tune in to every game.
Asked if it’d be bittersweet to see someone catch him, Curry said, “Not at all.”
“Same way Ray had his moment when I was watching him beat Reggie, it’s a passing-of-a-baton type thing. You do things that inspire other people, inspire a way to play, and see where they take it. Context always matters in how the story’s told and all that, so I’m not worried about that. It’d be kind of cool to see somebody be around that long and shoot that consistently throughout their career to do it.”
Curry isn’t done yet. But Edwards, Knueppel, and the next generation are on their way.