Golden State Warriors: Can Stephen Curry surpass Magic Johnson’s legacy?
Numbers
1. There is only one player in the history of the NBA named unanimous MVP, can you guess who? It wasn’t LeBron, MJ, Kareem, Magic, Bird, or Kobe – it was diminutive 6-foot-3 guard Stephen Curry.
The greatest achievement he has on his résumé because he did it during an era where you have players like, Russell Westbrook who can average a triple-double, James Harden can give you 30-10 every night, the most efficient scorer we have ever seen in Kevin Durant, and the closest player we have seen touch Michael Jordan’s legacy in LeBron.
Curry is playing in one of the greatest era’s of talent in the NBA. Bigs like Nikola Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns are leading their team in assists and 3-point shooting, respectively.
There are more players with versatile skill sets than ever before. With the influx and depth of talent in today’s league, Curry was still able to have the most dominant season of any player.
Magic Johnson will always hold the passing king over Curry’s head, but Magic can not lay a finger on Curry when it comes to shooting and scoring the basketball.
Magic Johnson is 1st all-time in assists-per-game and 5th all-time in total assists. Those are two stats that Curry won’t ever be able to reach, but there are many more numbers that Curry can catch Magic in if he hasn’t already passed him.
Magic only averaged at least 20 points in a season four times, while topping out at 23.9 points. Curry has averaged over 20 points the last seven seasons with him averaging at least 23.9 points five of the last six seasons.
Did I mention, Stephen Curry is also the greatest shooter we have ever seen?
Curry is 3rd all-time in 3-point field goals made while shooting 43 percent for his career from 3. His 3-point percentage ranks him 5th all-time and the four guys ahead of him have attempted no more than 3.6 3’s per-game for their career, compared to Curry’s 8.2.
Stephen Curry has averaged 248.3 made 3’s a season, if he stays healthy and keeps this average up, he will be number one all-time in 3-point shots made after two more seasons.
Shooting the 3 is not only thing Curry can out-class Magic in. The charity stripe is another place on the court where he is flawless.
If Curry retired today, he would be the all-time leader in free-throw percentage. Magic was a great free-throw shooter in his own right, leading the league in free throw percentage once, and averaging at least 90 percent at the stripe twice. Curry, however, has shot at least 90 percent from the line six times, while leading the league four times.
Next number Curry needs are rings. Curry already has three and is working on his fourth. He’ll need another ring or two without Durant to really push the narrative in his favor to go along with at least one NBA Finals MVP.
Five rings, two MVP’s 1 (unanimous), two Finals MVP’s, the all-time leader in free throw percentage and 3-point field goals made, to go along with a few more all-star selections and all-NBA teams would be enough for people to start believing in Curry being the greatest point guard ever.